17
2017Four Tips for Handling Change
Following are four tips that have helped me deal with change. You may want to consider using some of them the next time you are faced with a “change moment.” 1) Don’t wait for all the details. Good leaders want lots of details before they make a decision. That’s great…up to a point. Despite one’s best efforts, in most situations it’s impossible to get all…
10
2017Fast-Forward Leadership Means Not Being Swayed By Herd-Think
Most of the failed people whom I’ve known have been herd thinkers. So, one of the things I warn audiences about is this phenomenon where people all do the same thing. A prime example is people buying the same investment that lots of other people are buying…not because it makes logical sense, but because everyone else is buying it. At the base of this behavior…
5
2017The “3 D’s of Conflict Avoidance”
I want to tell you about a call from a young person that I’ll call Greg. I’ve known Greg all of his life. He is well educated and has extremely good people skills. However, this call wasn’t a pleasant one. Greg told me that he was depressed and discouraged. As a matter of fact, he was ready to rethink his chosen career path. “What,” I…
12
2017Don’t Ignore the Obvious
The 1950s was a good time for America. We had won the big war. The baby boom was in full swing. America liked Ike. We were feeling our collective oats. But not everything was as it seemed. In fact, we didn’t know that several decades later we’d look back on the 1950s as the Happy Days era. In reality, there was a lot of tension…
6
2017Conflict Resolution Specialists: 4 Tricks of the Trade
For anyone who aspires to succeed in a field, it’s always best to study what other successful people are already doing. Through the years I’ve dealt with conflict resolution on various levels. Here are 4 tricks the greats all use: 1. They listen. Effective conflict resolvers are good listeners. They make it a point to hear what is being said. Much of the conflict I…
29
2017Fast-Forward Leaders Learn to Thrive On Change
As a professional speaker, I’m a huge fan of other professional speakers. When one of my peers gets a standing O…I find myself enjoying a standing O vicariously. When a fellow speaker presents the audience with an “Aha” moment…my heart is smiling. And when I see another speaker in an embarrassing moment…I am blushing, too. Let me tell you about one of those blushing moments….
24
2017Crabs Hate Succeeders
Alexis de Tocqueville said, “Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.” He was right. Tocqueville understood one of the most fundamental of all leadership concepts…one will never be a great leader until she has the courage to step away from the herd when the herd is not performing well. And, on that point, it’s rare…
21
2017Here’s One Thing That Will Make You Unforgettable and Highly Valued
To paraphrase the late, great Coach Bear Bryant, “The trouble with the road to success is that it’s filled with too many parking places!” We don’t usually have difficulties and failures in our lives because we simply don’t know what we ought to do. We don’t live defeated lives because we don’t promise ourselves that we’ll do better. Instead, most of our self-disappointment comes because…
7
2016The problem with the ordinary is that it is, well, so ordinary.
It’s hard to see the big picture while living in a world filled with small thinking people. We tend to start projects with high goals, but somehow drift into the weeds of life, making it difficult to remember what’s most important. Take the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright who made their first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. On…
29
2016How to Kill Conflict…“Nip It In the Bud!”
To quote the great 20th-century philosopher, Mayberry’s Deputy Barney Fife, one of the best ways to avoid consequences is to do the right thing in the first place and simply, “Nip it in the bud!” Succinctly put, conflict often happens because people tend to be gutless. I’ve heard it said, “If you want to have less conflict, have more of it.” I think that’s profound….