Recently, The Leader Campus released a video interview with Jim Kouzes of The Leadership Challenge. I encourage you to watch the whole thing. But here are some of my main takeaways, in case you don’t want to make time to watch it now. One big point from the latest research: While the context for leadership keeps changing, … Read more
Let’s start with an example: Aaron was annoyed with his boss, Craig. So annoyed, in fact, that Aaron went over Craig’s head and complained to Craig’s boss, Annette. “Craig’s always breezing in and out. Never listens. Doesn’t have that ‘open door’ policy he brags about. And really tunes me out when I tell him about … Read more
I live in Iowa, and a term that gets floated a lot is “Iowa Nice.” As time goes on, though, it gets used ironically as much as it gets used sincerely. I think that’s because “Nice” doesn’t always equal “Kind.” Some leaders need to be reminded that giving positive you’re-on-the-right-track feedback is important and motivating. … Read more
When Mary Coffin of Wells Fargo spoke at September’s 90 Ideas event, she shared this nugget: Measure more than the average. She pointed out that when we take measurements, we do a lot of looking at trends and averages and norms to make decisions. But averages only tell us so much. We also need to … Read more
Mary Coffin of Wells Fargo has a great nugget about customer experience at 90 Ideas. I found it to be a new way to look at efficiency versus effectiveness. Each customer interaction depends on four ingredients:People, Process, Data, and Technology Coffin asks, “Which gets the focus?” She made the point that technology gets the focus. … Read more
I admire Scott Raecker; he’s a great speaker with wonderful stories and spot-on content. His work on character education has touched many. And when he had the floor for five minutes at the 90 Ideas event, he shared two big insights with us, and one of them was unexpected: Drink water. I’ve blogged about … Read more
Beware the 30-minute meeting—or the 60-minute meeting. Setting up time blocks that go straight into the next block’s beginning have these results for the heavily-scheduled: No time for a restroom break, so when you take one, you’re late. Growing apprehension that you’re missing an urgent voice mail, email, or progress update. Rushing from one room … Read more
At the Business Record’s “90 Ideas in 90 Minutes” event from September 2017, Miriam De Dios of Coopera made a case for organizations of any size to implement “Personal Development Plans for All.” Most organizations do some kind of development plan for people in, or preparing for, leadership roles. But what if everyone had a plan? People on … Read more
Because conflict can be tense and uncomfortable, we might want it to end quickly. DiSC-wise, S types, and even some i types, find productive conflict awkward at times. Caving in works. It ends discussion.
Belittling can be direct, like calling someone an idiot, or it can be slightly more subtle. Either way, when our back is against the wall in a conflict situation, and things turn unhealthy, making others look small is a tactic that can rear its ugly head.