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Conductor

A Maestro’s Breakthrough Discovery

Ben Zander is a world renowned orchestra conductor, teacher and speaker. At the age of 45, he made a game-changing personal discovery. Watch and hear Ben describe his epiphany and learn how you can apply it to inspire others to exceptional performances.

WAIT

Is Talking Overrated?

“Seek First to Understand. Then to be Understood.” is Habit #5 of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by the late Stephen R. Covey. Despite Mr. Covey’s best efforts, most people’s approach to communication is “shoot first and ask questions later.”

angryboss1

Managing Your Bully Boss

Is There a Type-A Terrorist Ruling Your Work World? You can rest assured, albeit not peacefully, that you’re not alone. Insensitive tyrants have a way of working their way to the top and leaving a wake of discontented staff. So, chances are you’ve either had one or someday you will experience a Bully Boss

Fitness

Your Fitness Agenda

In the US alone, weight loss and fitness is a multi-billion dollar industry. How much of that money is really well spent?
There’s a simple, two phase solution to fitness: Consume Less and Exercise More. It’s so simple, why isn’t it easy?

Add BCC

The Dangerous Seduction of BCC Emails

I recently composed an email to discuss a dispute and express my opposing view. Then I used the BCC feature to share the message with a higher authority. When the tactic was quickly exposed, I won a battle. But, may have lost the war..

Boring Meeting

Breaking Away from Meeting Monotony

The more senior your position, the more meetings you attend. When it comes to business meetings, most executives might apply the old adage about the opposite gender: Can’t live with ’em. Can’t live without ’em. Studies show that 49% of managers feel that they are wasting at least 3 hours per week in meetings.

Herding Cats - Creative Commons

Herding Cats

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re trying to herd cats? It can be a feeling of hopeless frustration.

Appointment

Your Most Important Appointment

If you were working in an ocean, is your typical day more like: Sinking? Treading Water? Or, Swimming?
Most of us settle for treading water. Is there a better way? Here is a simple tactic that is a Life Saver for some.

Elderly Woman

A New Customer’s Final Plea

A client shared a story of an elderly woman who was about to agree to a major home improvement purchase. Before she signed on the dotted line, she added one last request.

Rear View mirror

What’s in Your Rear View Mirror?

In 1992, the Chicago Bears, fired Mike Ditka, their iconic head football coach. “Da Coach’s fanatic fans were distraught. As for Mike Ditka, he just lost his dream job. Yet in the face of his life altering event, Coach Ditka shared four words of wisdom we should all learn to embrace in times of adversity.

Cockpit

Attainability in SMART Goals

Do you find that Goal Setting is a needless, futile, frustrating exercise? Before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, look in the mirror and ask is it “the tactic” or “the leadership”?

Triage Icon

Opportunity Triage

A valuable business opportunity is a terrible thing to waste. Yet it happens repeatedly when we aren’t ready for their arrival. How do you prevent valuable opportunities from falling through the cracks?

a storefront

Apple’s Extortionist Granny

In case you missed it, 83-year-old Evelyn Paswall of Forest Hills, Queens NY is suing Apple for $1 million, saying the company was negligent for not elderly-proofing the store’s see-through facade. Is this McDonalds Coffee Deja Vu?

Good To Great Cover

Is Good the Enemy of Great? Or The Reverse?

That quote is the first sentence of the opening paragraph of the business best seller, Good To Great by Jim Collins. Mr. Collins goes on to explain how complacency with being good is an obstacle to pursuing greatness. The noble pursuit of greatness concept has inspired leaders, followers and book sales. Does that mean we should pursue greatness in every thing we do?

7 Secrets of Highly Effective Leadership Communication

7 Secrets of Highly Effective Leadership Communication

Mere experience with using a voice, a pen or a keyboard, doesn’t make you a good communicator. Here are 7 Secrets to Effective Communication to help you reduce the amount of dysfunctional communication in both professionally and personally.

golden circle

Inside-Out Communication In Action

We are seeing more application of Inside-Out communication from both small business and national TV ads. Here are my favorite examples. If you want to learn to “start with why”, here’s how.

Booth Leadership Presentation

Chicago Booth Leadership Presentation

I was genuinely honored to receive an invite to speak on the subject of Leadership at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of business. Thanks to Bill Hope for being an accommodating host. And to all the attending MBA students who provided both compliments and constructive feedback.

The Execution Box

Exploring the Gap Between Knowledge and Execution

Organizations typically hire for skills and knowledge, then fire and promote on the basis of attitudes and habits. Upon terminating people, they start the process over again. Are skills and knowledge needed for job success? Of course! But how many times have we seen skillful, knowledgeable people fail to fit with their new job or organization?

Sky Diver falling

Your Mind Is Like A Parachute

If I asked you to rate your own open-mindedness on a 1 to 10 scale, what number would you give yourself?

Blind Spot Warning sign

Overcoming The Curse of Knowledge

The Curse of Knowledge is a condition that comes from knowing so much about your topic that you struggle to connect with your audience. It’s easy to become cursed. When you’re a subject matter expert, you naturally assume others have a similar frame of reference. But, how could they?

Kris Kringle

Social Marketing Insight from Kris Kringle

The internet has forever changed marketing. However the more things change the more some old, yet golden rules apply. Here’s some social marketing insight from the 1947 film classic Miracle on 34th Street.

broom

Delegation and the Power of “Why”

The essence of formal leadership is “getting results through others”. So, effective delegation skills are essential. Like all intangibles, delegation skills are never fully mastered. Let’s look at what it takes to become a better delegator.

alphabet soup

Digesting Acronym Alphabet Soup

Do you ever find yourself nodding to affirm your understanding of an acronym when you really don’t have a clue? Let’s look at what’s really happening here and what can do instead.

Pointing

Are You Playing The Blame Game?

Whenever you point your finger, there are always three others pointing in the opposite direction. Learn the 8 Eye Opening Attributes help you discover you’re playing: The Blame Game.

profit-planet-people

Pitfalls in Aligning People, Profits and Planet

Triple Bottom Line Leadership is a term for strategic sustainability initiatives that seek to align people, profits and the planet. While I’m an inherent optimist, I don’t envision the concept reaching critical mass in the near term future. Here’s why…

Punctuality

Pursuing Punctuality

We can agree that your personal integrity is an essential requirement for being an effective leader. Let’s learn from legendary leader Vince Lombardi and his value for punctuality.

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