How old would you be if you didn’t know how old your body is? “You’re only as old as you feel” is folk wisdom that’s almost a cliche. In Counterclockwise, Harvard psychology professor, Ellen Langer, presents powerful evidence showing just how true that is. Langer’s life work is on illusion of control, aging, decision-making, and […]
Read post »When I moved down the street from a grocery store job to a career in sales that eventually led me into this field, the president of the company made a comment that became a career goal and life beacon for me: “When you love what you’re doing, you never have to work again.” This […]
Read post »An e-mail from Philip, a student working on a senior thesis on “management practices that can help reduce stress in the work environment,” provoked me to think further and review some of my writing on this growing epidemic. Below are Philip’s questions and my responses. Stress is a classic symptom or result of many underlying […]
Read post »Turbulence, uncertainty, and lightning quick shifts sure are rocking our world these days! Leading in these turbulent times — and dealing with fear and stress — is on my mind lately as we prepare for my only public workshop this year, Leading @ the Speed of Change: Navigating Turbulent Times. The CLEMMER Group is in […]
Read post »Fear does have a place in our lives. The motivational power of fear can even be crucial to our survival. If we’re physically attacked, fear can jolt us with the adrenalin and motivation we need for fight or flight. Fear is like fire. It can be a life-giving energy source or it can badly burn […]
Read post »Given the huge disaster in Japan, unrest in the Middle East, and shaky stock markets we especially need to nurture our “inner guru” (see my last post) to dispense the darkness of pessimism, fear, and worry. The positive energy and celebration of St. Patrick’s Day may be just the reminder we need. One of the […]
Read post »I recently awoke to a pleasant surprise in my e-mail. I’ve been included on a list of the world’s "top 30 most influential leadership gurus." I am especially honored to be in the company of leaders that I’ve learned so much from, such as Warren Bennis, Tom Peters, Ken Blanchard, Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, Marshall […]
Read post »A key element of my work last month with Qantas Airways in Australia involved linking customer focus, employee engagement, and process management. This month I was engaged by a national insurance company to help their executive team understand their role in implementing Lean/Six Sigma. My experience with Lean/Six Sigma began in the late eighties with […]
Read post »A reader recently sent me a lengthy e-mail raising questions dealing with age and organizational culture. Here’s the essence of it: "My daughter is a youthful 29 years old (and short which doesn’t help!) working in the financial services industry. Over the past four years she has done very well with a few promotions. Her […]
Read post »A reader responded to a blog question about executive teams I raised in a January post ("Have you fallen and can’t get up?") with a story of how she has personally fallen, and is having trouble getting up. She leads a group of experts in a professional organization who are extremely disdainful of her and […]
Read post »Having just returned last weekend from three weeks of midsummer heat in Australia to the continuing deep freeze of winter in Canada, I am especially mindful of changing seasons. March is the month of the spring equinox. At this time of year, day and night are roughly 12 hours each, and the sun is at […]
Read post »"Coaching is the process of enabling others to act, of building on their strengths…To coach is to facilitate, which literally means ‘to make easy’ — not less demanding, less exciting or less intense, but less discouraging, less bound up with excessive controls…Coaching is face-to-face leadership that pulls together people…encourages them to step up to responsibility […]
Read post »Whether it’s to increase service/quality levels, boost engagement and morale, strengthen teamwork, or improve safety, we’re working with many organizations to strengthen coaching and developing skills across the organization. Through this work we run into some or many of these pitfalls and traps: Confusing “What” and “How” – this comes from confusing inspiration and knowledge […]
Read post »How frequently and effectively do you recognize, engage, and coach the people you lead? Are these strengths or weaknesses? How do you know? What’s your awareness of your self-awareness? As organizations rebound and rebuild for the coming years, these “soft skills” are key to higher performance. A Towers Watson study entitled, Perspectives: Turbocharging Employee Engagement […]
Read post »I recently had a career discussion with a sharp and ambitious young family friend who has been working for five years for a large multinational company. In his late twenties, he’s now finishing up his MBA and looking for more growth and development than his company is currently providing. High potential young professionals like him […]
Read post »I’ve long been an avid collector of “famous last words.” These are pronouncements by experts confidently projecting today’s current limitations into tomorrow. These serve as stark reminders to be very careful about getting stuck in ruts of certainty as seeing the world only as it is. Here are a few favorite examples: “There is not […]
Read post »Catching up on my reading I recently came across a pair of Fortune articles on the vital importance of storytelling for leaders. Management often relies on directing, telling, and bossing – even if politely saying “please.” Leadership seeks to influence thinking and behaviors. We’ve all found ourselves resisting someone else, not because of what they […]
Read post »We can gain such great perspective and leadership lessons from looking back at how previous generations handled the sweeping changes and crises of their day. I’ve been in London, England three times in the last few months working with an international executive team based there. As a classical art and history buff I add some […]
Read post »February was named after the Latin term februum meaning purification. In the old Roman calendar the purification ritual, Februa, was held on February 15. Some historians also connect the Latin word for fever, febris, with purification or purging from the sweating common with fevers. This medieval painting, “Fevrier” (February), was for an illustrated manuscript in […]
Read post »Has your executive or management team fallen into a few of the traps identified in my last blog post? If so, you’re in good company. Those common team traps are highly interconnected. Getting out of them takes a fair bit of work and approaches unique to each team. Following is a menu of resources and […]
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