About seven years ago I wrote a post about “disruption,” which was a common buzzword at the time. The basic point was this: It’s important to pay attention to people who are different than you, rather than to surround yourself with like-minded folks. Unfortunately, I titled it “Leaders Know When to Tolerate High Maintenance People.“ … Read more
Shortly after Patrick Lencioni’s Ideal Team Player was published, I wrote a piece explaining and extolling the virtues of Hunger, Humility, and People Smarts. These concepts hold up well, and I haven’t lost my passion for talking about them. I hire for them. I’ve counseled others on how to hire for them. These concepts frequently … Read more
In 2016, I wrote this piece about the way to apply the Kübler-Ross stages of grief to organizational change, and made the case that a person’s needs change depending on their stage. The “dos and don’ts” definitely hold up. It’s interesting to revisit this post-Covid. I thought maybe the complexity of the responses to the … Read more
A few years ago, I wrote a piece dedicated to the dangers of starting sentences with “to be honest,” and I still think it’s not the best choice. However, there’s a point I’d like to emphasize, because it’s buried at the end of that post: Look out for judging others who start their points with … Read more
A few years ago, I summarized a recent four-post series with pointers on how to “be easy to work with.” You can read it here, with links to all four in the series. The overall implication was that being easy to work with is a good thing, and I still feel that way. I would … Read more
A few years ago, I shared a vivid phrase to describe being passive-aggressive: “Violently polite.” I think it holds up, but I had forgotten about it. I’m glad for the chance to revisit this. In the years since then, I’ve been more likely to focus on “toxic positivity,” which is NOT the same thing. Toxic … Read more
A few years ago, I shared a story about a nosy man in a checkout line, and used it to make the point that it’s a bad idea to plan for the worst-case scenario. You can read it here. Does it hold up? For the most part, yes. I see this more in personal lives … Read more
A few years ago in a post titled “Strong Team Members Hold Each Other Accountable,” I wrote that once people get in the habit of holding each other accountable without making it personal, teams hum with productivity and gossip is diminished. Does it hold up? Accountability will always hold up. But in the original piece, … Read more
A few years ago, I wrote in Healthy Conflict Leads to Commitment that great teams can expect commitment when trust is solid and conflict is productive. Today, I want to emphasize that commitment has two other important components: clarity and buy-in. I think at the time I wrote the original post, I was looking harder … Read more
In a post I wrote called “Leaders Make Sure Results Match the Mission,” I shared Gino Wickman’s approach, presented clearly in the book Traction, called the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). I noted that measuring results against the mission is important to do on a regular basis. I’m not an official EOS implementer — those are … Read more