Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
She has been dead for over a decade and I still remember the first time we met as if it was yesterday.
Over 70, she summoned me from across Liberty Street with a wave of her hand as I wondered what a stranger was doing motioning to me. Newly moved from Chicago, it was definitely not something that would happen in the Windy City unless the person was psychotic.… 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
As in politics, hot words can get exchanged in business.
The colleague who never says peep now has new ways to describe you when they’re asked to share their thoughts on what it’s like to work as your colleague.
When the jolt of the words has washed over you, just what do you do when someone calls you – to phrase it politely – an SOB?… Read the rest
It may simply be that time of year but I’m being “soft vetted” for board of director / board of trustee seats.
And whether the board seat is for an organization that is for-profit or for non-profit, there are things some things that anyone – you, me, or anybody else – should do.
Soft vetting is remeniscient of grade school (“If you did have a crush on someone in class who would it be?… Read the rest
One mystery for more senior job hunters is the question of “What do employers really want?” in terms of backgrounds, skill sets and experience.
Thanks to one executive search person you can get one good answer – particularly if you’re looking fill a Chief Financial Officer role.
Karen Quint of Spencer Stuart addressed the San Francisco chapter of Financial Executives International, the preeminent association for CFOs and other senior finance executives last month.… Read the rest