Leadership: Have you ever treated someone like an ATM?
I get my hair cut in one of those old-time barbershops. Where I go, you can’t make an appointment. You can go anytime you want. Sometimes you’ll find an “out for lunch” sign at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and you have to come back in a half an hour. Sometimes you’ll wait an hour. […]
Authentic Success and the Wisdom of Youth
In my opinion, young people today are, for the most part, wiser than I was at their age. They’re wiser because they have observed the mistakes of their parents and the adults that have raised them and are determined to live life differently. My daughter’s best friend, an amazing, authentic young woman, was valedictorian at […]
The Inspiration Of A Training Master
I was inspired by an article in the Calgary Herald about the former Calgary Flame, Gary Roberts, who, by transforming his own life through nutrition and exercise, is now doing the same for the next crop of NHL stars. Driven prematurely from the sport at the age of 28 because of bone spurs and nerve […]
What Are You Dedicated To?
It’s been said that you can be world class at everything if you spend 10,000 hours practicing. That’s 3 hours a day for ten years, give or take a few days. What that means is that every person could be world class at something ten years from now. For some, it could be an olympic […]
How is the Clarity of Your Conviction?
“Then I asked: Does a firm persuasion that a thing is so, make it so. He replied: All poets believe that it does, and in ages of imagination this firm persuasion removed mountains; but many are not capable of a firm persuasion of anything.” William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell To achieve a […]
Hurriedness, Kindness, And Organizational Health
I was driving to a meeting a few days ago when I noticed a young woman, with two children in the back seat of her car, stopped on the side of road attempting to change a flat tire. Ordinarily, I’d like to think that I would never pass someone by like this without stopping to […]
Love And Profit: Do You Care Enough To Lead?
In my work with executives, I am continuously struck by how those who have the credibility and the respect of their employees and colleagues are those that practice what I refer to as ‘caring leadership’. It was Voltaire who referred to what I discuss in this article as a “triumph of humanity.” Innumerable triumphs of […]
Organizational Culture: Lessons From A High School Musical
This past week our seventeen-year daughter, Hayley, performed in an amazing high school musical production of Les Misérables. Months of preparation went into this production. As these young people prepared themselves for a performance, I witnessed organizational culture at its very finest. Here it was: a group of ninety youth (from grade nine through twelve), […]
The 80/20 Rule of Leadership
There’s an old leadership theory of human behavior called the 80/20 rule, which states that 20% of the people in an organization produce about 80% of the results, while 80% produce about 20% of the results. If you manage sales people or volunteers or a team of employees where you expect results, then you are […]
Easter… A Time For Reflection
Easter, especially in recent years, has been a time for reflection for me. A time for taking inventory. A time for letting go. A time for renewal. A time for resurrection. As we grow and evolve, things in our lives need to die to make room for something new. Hanging on too tightly to our […]
