Last time I referenced how the bitterness grew between Jerry Krause and Michael Jordan over time, especially when a few of the trades Krause made - with players who were Jordan’s close friends - were only brought to his attention by the media after the trade was done… We’ll...

Last time, we looked at how Jordan’s performance pulled other players to higher levels, whether they were playing with him or against him. Some of that was sheer competitive nature and some was out of desperation to prevent looking completely foolish… Regardless of the reason, the...

From the time he joined the Bulls, it was very clear that very few approached the game like he did. Turning around a team that was rumored to drink beer and smoke cigarettes at halftime, and do far worse in their hotel rooms after the games, wouldn’t be a simple task! The contributions...

I can’t remember which commercial it was that coined the phrase “Be like Mike” but I do remember Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) quoting it to chide his partner, Mike Lowrey (Will Smith), in one of the Bad Boys movies… Michael Jordan’s incredible work...

I’ll say it once more right away, I’m not suggesting that Michael Jordan was the greatest leader of all time but I most certainly am willing to make the case that he is the best basketball player of all time… And from the way he played the game of basketball, I believe we can...

If we really want our investment into leadership development to make a visible difference on productivity over the long haul, there’s a hurdle we cannot afford to stumble over! Even after making sure expectations have been clearly communicated and the necessary support has been provided to...

As we started looking at whether or not Leadership Training Is Worth It, I shared the story of the construction crew getting the fancy new tool they had been asking for then leaving it in the box the next time they performed the task the tool should have been used for… I also explained how...

Now that we’ve looked at what we’re up against when we can’t find anything in the budget for developing our leaders and we’ve worked through some things we need to consider to make sure any leadership training we do provide is really worth it, let’s start closing the...

If we need measurable results from anything we do to develop our leaders, and I can’t think of any reason for doing it if those results don’t matter, who delivers the initial training and how they go about it is critical! If they can’t earn credibility with our team or...

When the organization I worked for started the initial rollout of a new safety initiative in 1998, everyone being trained to participate in even the basics of the process went through a three day workshop. The folks who were to be part of the steering committee” went through an additional...

Now that we’ve identified multiple areas where there really is room in the budget to invest in leadership development, let’s answer a more important question: Is Leadership Training REALLY Worth It?

Several years ago, I was with a friend of mine who owns a construction company. A few...

But Wes, you’re not hearing me… It’s just not in the budget and that’s just the way it goes with turnover, we’ve got to keep our focus on doing the work that pays the bills! I know that feeling all too well… Heck, that was the reality I lived with every day...