Don’t Take It Personally

Last week I wrote about phrases that pay and one phrase that doesn’t pay (“Do you have a minute?”). To remind you, it’s important to create or discover phrases that pay – simple phrases that are so clear, rich and recognizable that they pay great dividends for the brands they […]

What’s the Secret?

Actually, it shouldn’t be a secret – it should be openly and regularly shared. It should be one of the most important things that’s shared, but the reality is often otherwise. The “it” is what you think about a team member and their performance, especially if that team member reports […]

Now Is the Time for Feedback

Hopefully, we all know the value of feedback – whether we’re gifting others with honest feedback or receiving it ourselves. The trouble with feedback is not a failure to see its value, but a failure to express that value through our actions—for example, failing to care enough to make time […]

The Leadership Quadrant

I’ve written before about Stephen Covey’s four quadrants from his impactful book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Recently, Covey’s four quadrants, especially one quadrant in particular, have been the focus of many of my coaching sessions. This quadrant and the work done (or not done) in this arena is […]

Help Them See It

During several recent coaching sessions, I was talking with leaders about the importance and necessity of helping their team members seeissues, shortcomings and opportunities to improve. Through these discussions, it became clear that managers and leaders usually fit somewhere in a range of approaches – only one of which is […]

Lead Like a Parent

If you’re like many leaders, your first response to this title is this: “Exactly, I have to lead like a parent because my people act like children.” If that’s your response, think again … if your people are acting like children, then they’ve likely been made to feel like children […]

It Is You

If you’re a Seinfeld fan, you’ll remember the episode where George’s girlfriend breaks up with him and uses this line: “It’s not you, it’s me.” In response, George protests that he invented that break-up line and further insists that it is definitely him. Finally, she relents and tells the truth: “Alright […]

A New Muscle

Earlier this week I was driving to the airport to drop off my rental car and catch my flight back to Ohio. As I was driving, it struck me that it didn’t feel like I was out of town or anything different than driving to a meeting in Cleveland (other […]

The Big Miss

I’m writing this week’s blog on the patio of my Airbnb apartment in Greece – my last day in Greece before traveling on to Iceland tomorrow for a couple of days before heading back to the United States. This past week I spoke several times for the INPACT EMEA & […]

The Target Is Not Optional

Over the past six months, I’ve been sharing a leadership truth with my audiences – an arrow of truth that is not easy to hear, but it IS a leadership reality. Whenever you choose to lead, whether in taking on a leadership role, accepting a leadership assignment or taking action […]