Effective Leaders get Everyone in the “Right Seat”

When I read the (rightly) popular Good to Great, I found myself agreeing with nearly everything in principle, but thought that some concepts were a little too idealistic for a small- to mid-sized organization.  Massive businesses, like his examples, have more luxury to move people around, for example.

That’s why I had a touch of a problem with

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Customer Service Top Five + One

This week, five posts that will help you understand the value of great customer service, everyone’s role in it, and some ideas to make it happen. Disney’s Magic Trick Dig the Little Things Pause and Listen One of my favorite bad service stories… Non-leaders can lead, too… The plus one: Check out the Unsecret Shopper … Read more

Stories – Top Five + One

Everyone loves stories.  Stories inspire and motivate and help things “stick” so much better than facts, data, and research findings. Stories combine facts and emotion, the best of both worlds.  That’s why I try to use them as much as possible. Below, the five blog posts with the best stories. Two Stories Beware acting while … Read more

Two Leadership Checklists

Some of us enjoy the tidy list. Nice to have as a touchstone, though if we’re serious, we’ll dig deeper. Regardless, here are two for your consideration. The first is seminal for me — the summarization of the far-reaching work of Kouzes and Posner. The second is the one that summarizes the Group Dynamic leadership curriculum. … Read more

Everyone’s in Marketing?

We are all ambassadors of every organization that we are a part of. Whether it’s our family, our workplace, our house of worship, our service club, our band, our athletic team, or our city/state/country, we are always “representing.” There’s a place in my town that serves food. Lots of people eat there. I don’t. Here’s … Read more

What Three Things Make the Biggest Difference? (Part Three)

This week, we look at the third concept of “The Big Three.” This is not new ground for this blog, and I encourage you to check out related posts: Effective Feedback is About the Future Leaders Model the Behavior they Expect Attitude is not everything. Listen to Batman and focus on behavior… What’s the Magic … Read more

What’s the Magic trick used to control Disney guests?

Something that strikes most visitors to Walt Disney World is how “nice” of a place it is. It’s very clean. The employees are called “cast members” because they’re playing a role and they have a reputation for great service and friendliness. Everyone knows that.

But there’s another unique element present at Disney World that is seemingly beyond

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