Organizational Culture: Hire For Character; Train For Cashiers
The quote in the title of this blog is from an executive at Nordstrom, an upscale department store chain in the US who understands a vital component to organizational culture: the importance of character. You can’t teach character in a training seminar, because it’s not a skill; it’s the essence of who a person is. […]
Organizational Culture Transformation
The focus of my work is inspiring, guiding, and supporting leaders at all levels to build strong organizational cultures. The leaders I speak with these days are not just interested in keeping people. They are committed to keeping people engaged. I define engagement as the desire by employees to go the extra mile to help […]
The Truth About Leadership Training
The problem with most leadership training is that we think we can actually “train” someone to be a leader. Training is about skill development. You can “train” someone to cut grass, fix a carburetor, or make a latte at Starbucks. But, leadership? Can you actually “train” someone to be a leader? The problem behind leadership […]
Organizational Values: What Is Real Wealth?
Recently I had the privilege of spending three days with a group of two hundred and fifty ranchers from across Western Canada who belong to an organization called Holistic Management (HM). HM is based on a decision making framework which results in ecologically regenerative, economically viable and socially sound management of the world’s grasslands. These […]
Personal Leadership: What Is Enough?
I work with some amazing leaders who, in their own unique ways, are quietly and diligently making a tremendous impact on the world. And almost all of them are exhausted. Why is that? We could certainly blame it on technology and how accessible we are to the demands of others. We could probably all benefit […]
How To Achieve Good Leadership: Success Beyond Success
Good leadership starts with understanding your goals. And understanding your goals means you need to be very clear about how you define success. Below are some reflections on success that I trust will be valuable to you. Whenever we speak of success, there are always two levels of success. The first is outer success. The […]
The Truth About Good Leadership: Start By Being A Good Person
In Jim Collin’s classic book, “Good to Great,” he showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. It’s not only a good book. It’s a great book. In the pursuit of greatness, which Collin’s book undoubtedly will inspire, […]
Granting Grace – A Key To Building An Engaged Culture
What if we could ask for what we need and want from each other? What if we could talk openly, in the spirit of good will and respect, about what would make us happy and loyal in our workplace? What if we could then negotiate what we can and can’t do to meet these needs? […]
The New Workplace: Some Reflections on Hierarchy
We are witnessing the birth of an entire new way of living and working together in organizations. Since the Second World War, through the tumultuous 60’s and into the age of enlightenment, we have seen an unprecedented evolution of human consciousness. We have experienced profound changes in almost every aspect of our lives. While technology […]
Self Leadership – Leading As A Work Of Art
“One’s self is at the base of everything. Every action is a manifestation of the self. A person who doesn’t know himself can do nothing for others.” ~ Eiji Yoshikawa Understanding leadership from the perspective of techniques and tools is like trying to appreciate a painting by analyzing the strokes or the brush of the […]
