Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
Yankee baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra (king of malapropisms but no relation to Abe Lincoln on the right) once said “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”
The same is true of most of the organizational stuff that you do that touches people in companies; figure out where you want to end up, and work backwards.… Read the rest
Woody Allen’s famous line – “80% of success is showing up” – has a correlate from Edward Tufte; “Show up early, something good is bound to happen.”
While showing up early for a cocktail party may not be the best advice, taking both pieces of advice to heart (and into action) from Allen and Tufte about any other business, presentation, or community event/activity gives you a leg up on any number of things.… Read the rest
Trust, it’s been suggested, is comprised of three underlying elements: motive, reliability, and competence. Have all three and you have trust; miss on one and you likely have skepticism and distrust.
This post helps you to better understand the motive part of the equation, and how you can improve the ability of people to trust you.
Just as with working as a candidate with recruiters – see Can You Trust the Recruiter?… Read the rest
The are teams – start up teams, executive leadership teams, project teams – that work. And there are teams that don’t. Here’s how you can get the former, and avoid the latter.
The difference between the two is not so much in who is on the team and who is not, but how the teams are formed and how they go about their business.… Read the rest
The art of the good, strong start is something that many of us should master, but few of us seldom do.
Why? Probably because it’s a little like that set of occasions (weddings, funerals, baptisms and bar/bas mitzvahs etc.) that happen enough to notice but seldom enough to avoid generating a best practice mindset.
Many schools – like my son’s grade school Marin Country Day School in Corte Madera – have the practice down to a fine art, in part because the start happens on a regular basis, they believe it’s important to do it right, and if you’re smart enough to do it well it can form a foundation for a host of activities and programs to follow.… Read the rest
We’ve all been there: chairs are out, snack food is plated, some – or no – people show up, and after your presentation you’re greeted by the sounds of silence.
Such was the case with my first gratis (read “no fee” aka “free” ) master executive coaching session hosted by professional development web portal and facilitation firm partner KnowledgeCrush this week.… Read the rest