Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
In earlier times, people in the northern hemisphere marked the winter solstice – the time of the year when daylight for the hemisphere is at its shortest – with rites and rituals. Even today those traditions live on with things like the California Revels and their event productions held in Oakland.
This time of year was regarded as marking the sun‘s ebbing presence in the sky, and the deepest moment of the cold winter’s dark.… Read the rest
Readers of this blog know that the body of emerging research by people like Carol Dweck from Stanford or Angela Duckworth at the University of Pennsylvannia show that trying, self discipline, and constant learning – rather than simply going to the right schools, having a high IQ, or having the right credentials – is what drives performance over the mid-to-long haul.… Read the rest
I think Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath is a really good book. Most of the Heath brother’s content is great, both in their book, as well as in their monthly column for Fast Company. But even Babe Ruth stuck out, and their interviewing advice in Fast Company – Hold the Interview: Why it may be wiser to hire people without meeting them – is a real stinker.… Read the rest
Good business coaches use of host of tools and skills working with executives and teams: how they use those tools, and the robustness and effectiveness of the tools themselves is what separates coaches that are great and highly effective from those that are ho-hum and well, pretty ordinary.
One of those skills is the ability to see patterns of behavior where most might miss the connection between the dots, and to be able to use that insight to inform a host of suggested alternative approaches with a client.… Read the rest
It’s performance review season for many people and the curse of most performance reviews – getting or giving accurate feedback – will be the bane of many a supervisor and employee. It does not need to be that hard. Habits, and the usual ways of giving / getting feedback, though, will do in many an attempt to give and get good, helpful feedback.… Read the rest
Fortune Magazine’s November 23, 2009 issue features Willbur Ross in the “Best Advice I Ever Got” section. It’s well worth the quick read. My favorite line: “The biggest risk is the question you forgot to ask because the danger is always something you don’t know.”
Ross speaks to two blind spots possessed by many organizations and their leaders – even mine as a solo practitioner consulting firm.… Read the rest