Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
Public business figures disclosing their sexual orientation is big news this week.
Should it be?
Rick Welts, CEO and President of the Phoenix Suns, a men’s professional team in the top tier of the elite National Basketball Association announced he is gay in an article – A Sports Exec Dares to Leave the Safety of His Shadow – in the New York Times Monday.… Read the rest
“The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions” suggested Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Holmes, one of the 20th century’s most influential public figures, was on to something.
While youth (and fresh eyes) serve well with certain types of situations – think Emperor’s New Clothes, quant analysis, or the brilliance behind the Apple’s designs – wisdom from elders is something that you can’t find anyplace else.… Read the rest
A painting done by Joan Savo of her husband leaning back in a chair hangs in my home office. Part of the attraction is that the frame to the painting was made by her husband, part of the attraction is the care that I know must have gone into the work by Savo.
It’s a treat to see when I’m in the office, and a lesson in the waiting for many of us.… Read the rest
Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyewski (pronounced /ʃəˈʃɛvski/shə-SHEV-ski) once noted after his Blue Devils got beat, “We lost, and that’s the main thing that went wrong.”
Hopefully you take have a little more introspection than the storied (and highly successful) Coach K. The fact of the matter is that losses – bumps in your smooth career road – are the types of things that likely boost your career downstream if two things happen: 1) the bumps mostly occur earlier in your career rather than later, and 2) you have the smarts to learn from them.… Read the rest
Colin Neenan noted that “Life just seems so full of connections.”
It’s those connections, and the behaviors that impact that, that inform my work. In my consulting practice coaching executives and teams, as well as career coaching, I’m focused on those actions and behaviors rather than the feelings and emotions behind them. That “behaviors first” approach in business enables individual and team coaching clients to achieve quicker, more durable and quantifiable results..… Read the rest
Wendy Mogel, author of New York Times bestseller The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children was in the City this week. I caught her presentation at the Hamlin School along with a bevy of parents from various independent schools.
Mogel has great on-stage presence and funny charm, fitting for someone whose father published the National Lampoon.… Read the rest