Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
It’s been a tough few weeks for standards.
While the details and allegations aren’t settled, the arc of the scandals involving Herman Cain, the Penn State University football child sex abuse case, Tokyo-based Olympus CEO firing and coverup, and the Jon Corzine -MF Global debacle is familiar; people betrayed positions of public trust.
There are standards that everyone flaunts (Are you driving 60 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone?… Read the rest
It has become the dreaded phrase you don’t want to hear; “I’ll follow-up and get back to you”
Why? Because when you hear that phrase you know that 90% of the people you deal with won’t get back to you.
I’ve stopped chuckling when I get the email from someone with whom I’m scheduled to meet (“Are we still on to meet at 2 PM tomorrow”) because I realize we live in a world where people, rather than do as they say they’re going to do, do as they say they won’t.… Read the rest
There are jobs that last a lifetime, and jobs that are over before they really start. In between is the job that has a predictable arc with a start and a finish; you just need to know when it’s time to move on.
And in the C suite, where fortunes might be made, and juggling competing egos and agendas can be a full day’s work all in itself, the risks and rewards of figuring this timing stuff out is even greater.… Read the rest
Sometimes the job you’ve been promised won’t be there; sometimes the job you think you’ve lost may return.
So how do you know if it’s a sure thing?
You won’t.
Learn why the “sure thing” today is likely the maybe thing tomorrow, and what you can do to make yourself better prepared when that sure-thing-to-make-or-nothing happens.
Why is the sure thing is not exactly the sure thing?… Read the rest
This might seem like a story about Steve Jobs. It’s not; it’s a story about you.
Turns out that we get the hand we’re dealt in life. Events happen; it’s what you do with them that counts.
The Twitter tweet was was factual save the for last line. “Steve jobs was given up at birth; he was fired from the company he founded.… Read the rest
Being a CEO of a public company used the be the ultimate role for anyone in business. So when did it become so undesirable – and just a stepping stone to a better things down the road?
Jobs and roles in companies go through cycles. ABC’s Pan Am shows us that being an airline stewardess was the hot job to land for working women in the 1960’s (boy, does that concept seem dated) and NBC’s The Office vilifies most roles, unless you’re the boss, in organizations today for the unpleasantness you have to tolerate to survive.… Read the rest