A dear friend of mine came over a few months ago for a glass of wine and asked me, “What’s the half-life of a strategic plan?” She’d just completed one with her team. Everyone voted to implement it immediately, and yet one executive began to stray from it within a couple of days! “Half-life” [...]
Tilting at Windmills Many of our “enemies” are illusions–specters of past traumas or the product of misguided beliefs. We allow old narratives to play out again and again, unquestioned. We simply draw our swords and start swinging, just as Don Quixote does in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel. That’s where the term “tilting at windmills” originated. [...]
Your leadership and management skills can be dramatically improved by taking a page out of the motorcycling playbook. This past weekend I took a training course in how to drive a motorcycle from Rider Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. To say I stretched myself would be an understatement. I was left fatigued at the end of each 9 hour day. [...]
Assumption Bias restricts the possibility of change for both the leader and followers. It acts like a steel safe, locking in a static belief system and locking out the possible alternatives. The greater the power leaders have, the more vulnerable they are to assumption bias because their coworkers are unlikely to challenge them. Here are [...]
From Therapeutic to Performance As executive coaching continues to expand, the field is shifting away from a therapeutic model to a greater emphasis on business performance, leadership, and communication. Coaching has already changed significantly since it emerged barely 15 years ago. Coaches initially came from psychology or counseling, and their mission was to solve a [...]
Betrayal at Work Betrayal is a violation of trust, which is why it feels so gut-wrenchingly awful and can come as such a shock. We often don’t or can’t see it coming. And we’re often left flatfooted in terms of how to deal with it. Our anger or resentment may cause us to want to [...]
Rethinking Leadership Infographic was developed by Sammi Cohen. To develop your own infographic, reach out to Sammi Cohen. Rethinking Leadership In working with leaders, I have found asking questions is a sorely undervalued technique. Many equate asking questions with losing power, looking like a fool, or admitting defeat. Some believe that asking questions will simply waste [...]
Decision Model A model can be anything that defines a process (iterative, linear, or chaotic) in which you move from a particular starting point to a desired destination. Some models are rather straight forward. Take, for instance, planning a business trip from Rochester, MN (my home town) to Los Angeles, CA to attend a conference. [...]
Animation has given us more than great entertainment; it has given us remarkable leadership lessons. In Toy Story we are given a surprising leadership lesson by Slinky Dog. Slinky Dog is the head, feet, and tail end of a dog with the body made of Slinky. Imagine for a moment that you as the leader [...]
While generating ideas comes easily for entrepreneurs, discerning which ideas to implement and which to discard does not usually come as easily.
Integrity matters. Rescheduling a meeting results in less trustworthiness & less integrity.
Entrepreneurs like not only to identify new opportunities and threats, new strengths and weaknesses, but also to act on them. They like to shake the snow globe.
Being a rescuer can feed one’s ego. Eliminating drama triangles, though, leads to increased accountability—far better for leaders than a brief ego boost.
Sheryl Sandberg’s new book (Lean In) is out or should I say “in.” Her message to women is to be more ambitious, grab a seat at the table, raise your hand, and take credit for the work you’ve done. She believes that women have a tendency to lean backward as they consider whether and [...]
How do you frame your work so that your audience–team members, customers, service providers–doesn’t miss valuable content? How do you make the most important information the most visible and aesthetically pleasing? How can you avoid having to re-frame an argument later?
