Pandemic Panic: When things seem to be falling apart, and I am lamenting my bad luck or unfortunate circumstances, I often remember this passage from Anne Lamott’s book, Traveling Mercies. Lamott relates a story about a train trip, a friend, Carolyn Myss, took. Lots had been going wrong in her life, and Myss had started “whining” to a seatmate on …
Radical Truthfulness: Allowing employees to speak openly about what they are thinking about the performance of managers, colleagues and employees, ideas, projects, and policies is both scary and challenging. It is also critical to making sure that the best ideas win rather than a compromise or consensus idea. We hire people, especially knowledge-workers, to think, not just be an extra …
Business Roundtable: According to the reporting I’ve seen, the Business Roundtable has declared that they are changing the focus of their business from maximizing shareholders’ returns to improving the experience of all stakeholders. Stakeholders are made up of individuals or groups that have an interest in the success and progression of a company. External stakeholders comprise vendors, customers, neighboring companies, …
Shut down: I am NOT recommending that you do what I have done. I am, however, going to share with you my journey to being purposeful about how and where I spend my time gathering information. What prompts sharing this little diatribe are several articles, podcasts, and posts about how the content writers manipulate us. Moreover, as always, I am …
In a recent leadership group meeting, I was prompted to think a bit more about common leadership traits. I have settled on what I believe to be common leadership traits based on the great leaders I know personally. And of course, I added a few leaders about whom I’ve read but who I do not know personally. I came up …
More Pain: Finally. But who’s going to jail? According to the 2/2/18 article in the Los Angeles Times, the Federal Reserved ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to “cap its growth and improve its corporate governance.” This is supposed to be punishment for “widespread consumer abuses and other compliance breakdowns.” But who’s going to jail? And who, really, went to jail …
Climate Change Now there’s an interesting topic! Of course, there are at least two camps on the climate change thing. One is that the climate is changing and that mankind is causing or at least exacerbating the change. A second camp is that yes, the climate is changing but it’s a natural phenomenon and mankind is not only not causing …
Culture Trumps Everything Yes, culture trumps everything AND . . . money still talks. On Tuesday, 6/20/17, Travis Kalanick, the co-founder of Uber resigned, as CEO. He had taken a leave of absence the week prior, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy those wanting to protect their investment in Uber. So, while Kalanick will remain on the board, he is …
We “See” What We Believe I’m not saying we are wrong. And I’m certainly not saying we should plan to be wrong. But what if . . . ? [I think this may well be an ongoing series of posts!] I’ve been thinking more and more about how we’ve gotten so much wrong. From the political realm to the business …
Accountability I’m often asked about the difference between accountability and responsibility. The distinction I make (perhaps a bit oversimplified?) is that responsibility can be and often is shared with others. However, one cannot share accountability. Another distinction I’ve heard in our leadership circles is that one takes responsibility, but one is held accountable (by oneself and/or others). In the recent …