Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
It’s your last day on the job. How do you handle it?
Here are some thoughts.
Unless you’re embezzling and folks don’t know it, make it easy to be found. While some people prefer a blast email to folks on the broader team, I’m a fan of sending individual notes (it can be the same template – just remember to change names) to thank people who have helped you along the way.… Read the rest
Know the scene?
Students at Hogwarts categorized and selected into the proper best fit house; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.
Each sort carries a certain set of assumed characteristics and attributes. Each placements mark a lifetime of assumptions about character and future.
If humans weren’t malleable it might be a good practice. It’s just not the case.
While some aspects of temperament endure – e.g.… Read the rest
It’s a time of year when even the most distant observer notes that winners are separated from something referred to as losers. Who you are can be confused with what you’ve won (lately).
College bowl games, Super Bowl, Golden Globe, Writers Guild of America, Grammys, Oscars – all proclaiming who is/was hot, and maybe by inference, who is not.
Barack Obama got into the act with his January State of Union address noting that his campaigning days were over – eliciting cheers from Republicans – followed by a telling tally – “I should know because I’ve won both of them.… Read the rest
The difference?
The difference was between an OK bonus that the senior manager would receive and the really nice bonus they wouldn’t receive was one word: responsibility.
The recipient, my client explained, shirked from responsibility.
When something went wrong, it was usually someone else’s fault.
When it came time to put a stake in the ground, they were often last to do so.… Read the rest
November was a blur but I came away with one distilled thought: It never hurts to give thanks for thanks.
The good deeds – mitzvahs if you speak Yiddish – directed my way were small to large but net-net, they were all very kind and very terrific.
The unfortunate expectation that some people have is that if you do good for someone else there is a chit, a payback note, that suggests the next favor is due you.… Read the rest
It’s a familiar refrain on many a college campus and more than just a few
companies: “meet you at the Quad?”
A line tagged to a place and a time, it routes you to the familiar where you can bank on connecting with the right people at interesting times.
It’s also the place where more often than not serendipity intersects opportunity, where talent finds good fortune.… Read the rest