While accepting similar positions with different companies wasn’t necessarily moving me toward a fulfilling purpose, working just nine or ten hours daily in those companies provided something I hadn’t experienced in years: time to pursue the things we had gotten that glimpse of...
Suggesting that I interview for a different position at least once each year was just one of things Kevin did to actively help me grow and move closer to achieving a purpose that mattered to me during the time he and I worked together on decreasing the safety hazards throughout the entire...
As we started down this path, I shared a piece of John Maxwell’s story about how he learned that influence was far more important than a title or position when it came to getting anyone to follow you. And let’s be honest: if no one is following, we ain’t leading!
To provide a...
Whether it’s been through the customized approach to Developing Effective Trainers that I just explained or any of the other resources that Cindy and I have developed to helping leaders address the things that are killing profitability in their businesses or teams, we’ve always worked...
About a dozen years ago, I was offered a position with global responsibility for the behavior-based safety process within the company I worked for. The fellow who had been in the role for more than a decade was retiring and since I had supported him by working with most of our facilities across...
While the strong mentors Jordan had helped him maintain a strong public image, there were still areas where he led teammates in a less than positive direction… I’ve referenced the difference between the influence Michael Jordan earned and the positional authority Jerry Krause relied...
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...
In The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Patrick Lencioni mentioned that two of the signs were important for every team member to understand if we want them to have a clear picture of how they can engage and why it matters. We’ve already hit on IRRELEVANCE and we’ll touch on something...
Having made a case for why it may not serve us all that well to focus only on ensuring our employees’ happiness or satisfaction, and working to actually engage them ties more directly to the results we need to achieve, we should probably take the time to define employee engagement before...
Whether you’re leading a small department or a large organization, there’s never a shortage in things that need your attention… Even after those business owners and executives we’ve been looking at have invested the time and energy into leading their teams effectively and...
Several years ago, Cindy and I led a session covering The DISC Model of Human Behavior for a local client where a friend of mine was one of the participants. He and I had served on a board together prior to that so I had a solid understanding of his day to day responsibilities and I knew that he...