Phrases That Don’t Pay

PIn the marketing, branding and speaking world, we talk about the concept of creating phrases that pay – simple phrases that are so clear, rich and recognizable that they pay great dividends for the brands they are associated with. Here are a couple of examples of phrases that pay: Just […]

Five Keys for Great Meetings, Part 5: Who Owns It and What’s Next

This week I’m wrapping up the five-part series on creating more engaging, meaningful, effective and impactful meetings through these five keys: 1.   Start and Finish on Time 2.   Be Clear on the Question (or Agenda) 3.   Don’t Solve Problems (other than the problem that’s the focus of the meeting) 4.   Finish with “What Did […]

Five Keys for Great Meetings, Part 3: Problem Solving

This week I’m continuing with the five-part series on creating more engaging, meaningful, effective and impactful meetings through these five keys: 1.   Start and Finish on Time 2.   Be Clear on the Question (or Agenda) 3.   Don’t Solve Problems (other than the problem that’s the focus of the meeting) 4.   Finish with “What Did […]

Five Keys for Great Meetings (Time)

Most meetings suck … and you need more meetings! Are you insane, Jeff? If our meetings suck, then why do we need more meetings? Simple – because the answer is not fewer meetings, but bettermeetings. But if you want to have better meetings, you need to know how to plan, lead […]

The Nature of Impactful Teams

I regularly read a handful of blogs and daily newsletters, including the following: Seth Godin, Notes from the Universe, Ransomed Heart and Richard Rohr. I also have a spiritual practice that involves reading various daily devotionals on my YouVersion app. While I typically look to my YouVersion devotionals to fill […]

Are You Hiding?

No matter what your age or generation, nearly all of us have played the game hide and seek. It’s a fun game that can be played inside or outside, and it’s simple enough that anyone can play. Unfortunately, it’s also become a game that we play at work and in […]

Embrace the Dump in Meetings

Think about the last time you were in a meeting where you had very strong reservations about the idea being presented or the person presenting the idea. Perhaps you had extreme doubts about achieving the goal being discussed or you had lots of examples of ways that the team or […]

The Leader Pause

I recently had an unexpected encounter with one of the audience members in a large group setting where I was speaking. I was not able to read her name tag, and I didn’t hear her (due to my hearing loss) when I asked for her name. As a result, I […]

The New KPI

I’m guessing that most of you are familiar with the term or concept of a KPI – a key performance indicator. Leaders and organizations embrace KPI’s in different ways and to different degrees – from occasional reference to them to putting KPI’s at the forefront of all strategic planning and […]

The Power of Urgency©

Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) famously said, “So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.” We’re all going hard and fast. Everyone’s busy, stressed and overwhelmed. To do lists are endless, time is finite and the most common phrase from most people is “I […]