Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
While not abundant, you can spot them everywhere.
They are the sorts of colleagues who turn a ray of sunshine into a warning about skin cancer.
In a world of glass half-full or glass half-empty, they manage to always find the latter. It’s as if the coin flip for heads or tails always landed on one side, not the other.
They are colleagues nicknamed “Eeyore.… Read the rest
“The thing about taking risks is, if it’s really a risk, you really can fail.”
“It’s only a pretend risk if you really can’t fail.” – Connie Britton.
… Read the rest
The request came from a client whose leadership team I had worked with this June; the team had a consultant come in earlier and diagnosed them as dysfunctional. What to do about that dysfunction? That wasn’t part of the program.
The work the team had done with me followed the Road Trip model, and predictably some things had popped up in terms of prime improvement opportunity areas.… Read the rest
Only the hopeful and the perhaps the ignorant confuse voluntary associations with work groups.
Yet the fact of the matter is that there are elements from the world of voluntary relationships that can help more than just a few work groups perform better and even have a little more fun.
These opportunities for shared lessons came to mind with the fifth version last month of what’s become an annual pilgrimage up to San Francisco Recreation & Park’s Camp Mather near the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valleys in the California Sierras.… Read the rest
IBM founder and CEO Thomas Watson had a sign in his office – and more signs plastered throughout the firm.
Aretha Franklin sang about it in the movies.
Buddha noted “What we think we become.”
So why don’t we think more?
The thought came to mind as I trekked back from a week-long stay at San Francisco’s Camp Mather, a place in the high Sierras near Yosemite.… Read the rest
Steve Jobs on a bad day is a better presenter than 99% of the stage show CEOs in the world.
Is it his theme setting, demonstrated enthusiasm, using an outline, and ability to make numbers meaningful as suggested by communications coach Carmine Gallo’s post “Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs?”
No.
And men’s NBA shooting star extraordinaire Dirk Nowitzki – he of the pirouettes and one-footed shots and upset NBA championship by his Dallas Mavericks over the heavily favored Miami Heat.… Read the rest