Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
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
The problem from the client was common.
His boss had agreed to something the CEO had asked to be done, and now it was being passed along to him to execute.
The problem was that the idea was flawed – “a turd on the table” as a former colleague of mine might have said – and his boss had already committed to it.… Read the rest
Many times the most important things to do with managing your career are the easiest and the simplest: it just takes a little thought, a little planning, and a little discipline. More often than not it’s these small things that make big differences in who succeeds, and who struggles in the long run.
Today I got a contact information update note from Tom Taggart, who recently took a role as the Senior Vice President and head of Corporate Communications with Union Bank at their San Francisco headquarters.… Read the rest
Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” and advanced a number of prophetic ideas – all from the vantage of the 1960’s. McLuhan’s thoughts apply to you – including predicting the over extension of technology, and the intensification of the world community to its present expression as a “global village.”
McLuhan’s quip regarding message and medium was the thought of my morning at WordCamp San Francisco – an event for blogging geeks that is akin to baseball fans attending spring training – and experienced how presenters such as Scott Berkun, Vanessa Fox, Matt Mullenweg, et al.… Read the rest
Palm, the maker of mobile products, is losing talent.
Tech journalist Kara Swisher has commented that Palm is a company with nine lives. This, by my count, is number ten.
Michael Abbott, SVP of Software, and Caitlin Spaan, VP of Carrier Marketing, have both left Palm. Abbott landed at Twitter. SEC filings indicate that CFO Doug Jeffries and Global Operations Senior Vice President Jeff Devine both were paid $250K bonuses and provided stock options as part of a formal retention plan (bad news when a company’s CFO has to be paid more to stay).There’s … Read the rest
Almost every exec and manager hires people – even in the flat organizations common today. Yet few do it well, and many put it down low on their list of favorite things to do.
It doesn’t have to be that way, and there are four simple steps you can take to make the hiring process easier, go smoother, and make better hires.… Read the rest