Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
I’m guilty.
In the land of do as I say and do as I do, I’m buckling on the latter and hoping you do the former.
It happens.
Despite best intentions to behave true to my own advice I slipped into behaviors that others rely on me to avoid modeling. It happens. Welcome to being human.
I have a conflict with someone on a board on which we both sit and rather than address it early, it’s gone from a minor annoyance to major avoidance.… Read the rest
There is a quote someplace about “don’t sweat the details.”
When it comes to company building, though, sweating the details is what separates those that thrive – and survive– from start-up road kill. It’s exactly doing those (thoughtful) details that break or make a new company, not only the big picture stuff that might have sparked the launch.
That point was driven home working with a client this past week: successful over their first few years of existence the firm is at a point where they’re past start-up “survival mode” and focused on the things that will sustain them for years to come.… Read the rest
This Sunday approximately 3,500 people, many of them strangers, will hop on their bicycles or take up their ride support stations and start a 545 journey that will last seven days from San Francisco to Los Angeles for AIDS LifeCycle 8 . It’s the 16th such undertaking dating back to the mid-90’s to raise money for AIDS support groups in Los Angeles and San Francisco.… Read the rest
When I ran Human Resources for the drug distribution side of McKesson , prying 15 minutes from a distribution operating shift for employee communication basics was like taking bear cubs away from their parents.
Why is this important to you? Because the lessons McKesson supervisors learned should inform the communication practices of anyone who manages people from senior execs to first line supervisors.… Read the rest
I got a chance to catch up with my friend CB yesterday. Bright, hardworking, smart as a whip, and results driven, she’s one of about five people in my life who I would both hire AND work for. Like a lot of others in the bumpy economy, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time recently – is between roles – and is now looking for her next opportunity.… Read the rest
One of the cardinal sins of leaders is to think out loud. More tears have been shed by subordinates springing half-formed thoughts into reality than you can imagine. But how and who, particularly in these tough times, does a CEO talk with to make partially baked thoughts into fully formed solutions?
Short answer: it depends.
As someone married to a psychiatrist, CEOs apparently talk to shrinks.… Read the rest