Vision

24 Feb, 2014

What Political Races Can Teach Us About Standing Out in Our Marketplace

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:36+00:00February 24th, 2014|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Communication, Government & Politics, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

Who do you choose when there is very little difference between the choices? Do you take the time to understand the small factors that might distinguish one choice from another, or do you go with what is easy or the name that you hear the most often? There are four individuals running to represent their party for the office of state representative in the area where I live. All four seem like nice people, and all four are virtually indistinguishable in their stance on the issues. Seriously, you could copy and paste any of their individual responses onto the web site for any of their competitors, and no one would notice.

27 Nov, 2013

The Missing Measure that Drives Culture Change

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:38+00:00November 27th, 2013|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

Culture change follows behavior and performance change not the other way around. If you buy into that premise, the behavior and performance you expect, enable, measure, reward, and hold people accountable for will become the habits that define the culture. The best organizations have clarity, alignment, and execution across each of these areas. And that leads to the question of “how do you know a change is taking place?”

14 Oct, 2013

Three Lessons About Leading Change from the Debt Ceiling Chaos

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:38+00:00October 14th, 2013|Accountability, Business Strategy, Communication, Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

There has to be something we can learn from Washington’s failure to address the debt limit, right? There are three very important lessons about leading change you can take from the chaos over approving the federal budget and raising the debt ceiling.

24 Aug, 2013

Another Book About Change?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:40+00:00August 24th, 2013|Book Reviews, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Communication, Corporate Culture, Innovation, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

Why did you write a book about change? The host of a recent radio interview was being polite and, I suspect, genuinely interested. But the question is an important one—a quick search on Amazon.com found over 150,000 book titles that have something to do with change. Let’s assume that some of those titles are duplicates for hardcover, paperback, Kindle, etc. That still leaves thousands of books written on the subject. Aren’t those enough? The short answer is, “No.”

4 Aug, 2013

The Problem and Opportunity with Change

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:40+00:00August 4th, 2013|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Innovation, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change, Results|

Another blog post about change? Really? The last three I posted aren't enough? How about the thousands of other books, blogs, and articles on the subject? I am with you. I don’t need to hear another message that changes are coming and I need to get on board. And yet, we are confronted with this reality: Most of our efforts to make change work don’t work as well as we had hoped … or even at all.

9 Jun, 2013

The Scary Side of Mentoring

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:42+00:00June 9th, 2013|Book Reviews, Business Growth, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leadership Development, Results|

The old-fashioned view of mentoring is someone outside a learner’s chain of command who equips that learner with new skills and knowledge. It is an archaic expert to novice or smart to unwise philosophy. The goal is the transfer of information or expertise, much like pouring knowledge into the head of a passive learner. It is the model that antiquated teachers used to teach facts students only recalled long enough to score favorably on the test.

8 Apr, 2013

Opportunity Lost

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:44+00:00April 8th, 2013|Business Strategy, Leadership, Results|

In its “Economic Prospects for the Year 2000,” the writers at Business Week saw a glass half-empty and chose to see it as mostly full. The world painted in its 1989 article would have been a great place. The vision that they created was completely possible. We missed the opportunity. We lacked the rigor in our thinking and failed to consider all the possible implications of our choices. We lacked the discipline to execute toward the vision. And, we lacked the courage to confront reality and put long-term success ahead of short-term reward.

31 Mar, 2013

Congress, the President, the Sequester, and You

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:44+00:00March 31st, 2013|Accountability, Government & Politics, Leadership|

This week’s blog is a rant about the sequester that went in place in March. If you are sick and tired of the discussion, check back next week for something else. If you want to understand the impact of irresponsible leadership, read on. I promise this will step on everyone’s toes.

17 Mar, 2013

Random vs. Consistent

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:45+00:00March 17th, 2013|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Execution, Innovation, Leadership, Others, Results|

Random acts of wow are wonderful. Do them. But that’s not where you’ll win or lose the game. Don’t think that some once-a-year special thing that you do ever takes the place of being the best at what matters most consistently.

31 Dec, 2012

Connected, Aware, and Relevant

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:46+00:00December 31st, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Communication, Leadership, Results|

My December 31, 2012 social media post drew a lot of likes and one great question. Here is the post: We shouldn’t fear getting old. We should fear becoming disconnected, unaware, and irrelevant. The response from friends, fans, and followers was great because of the age span represented. I heard from people in their twenties and people in their sixties. Here’s the great question I received: How do you change your mindset to keep from becoming disconnected, unaware, and irrelevant?

19 Nov, 2012

An Attitude of Gratitude – Moving from Success to Significance

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:46+00:00November 19th, 2012|Accountability, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The people who have moved from success to significance in the personal lives don’t give because they are successful. They are successful because they give. They are not merely thankful for their success. They are thankful for the opportunity to strive. Research cited by Dr. Robert Emmons in his book, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, suggests that people who operate from a heightened place of gratitude and thankfulness typically experience better overall health, fewer physical symptoms, higher income, more energy, larger social networks and stronger marriages.

4 Nov, 2012

Leader or Liar?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:47+00:00November 4th, 2012|Accountability, Communication, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

This blog was first published in 2010. Considering we are near the end of perhaps the most divisive Presidential elections in recent U.S. history, it is an excellent time for all of us to reflect and ask ourselves - are we leaders or liars?

28 Oct, 2012

My Plan for Growing the Economy

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:47+00:00October 28th, 2012|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Government & Politics, Leadership, Results|

The American economy needs to grow again. Not the 1.5 – 2.0 percent growth we have seen over the past months. We need real growth in the 3.5 – 4.0 percent range. That is the [...]

14 Oct, 2012

The Exploitation of Honey Boo Boo

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:47+00:00October 14th, 2012|Accountability, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

What would you do to secure your 15 minutes of fame? How about to increase your financial well-being? Would you exploit your child on national television? Would you reinforce and applaud behavior that is likely to create lifetime problems for your child? Would you become the family that everyone loves to ridicule? For the parents of Honey Boo Boo, the uber-precocious child with her own show airing on TLC, the answer is yes and a lot more.

7 Oct, 2012

What Is Your Key Question?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:47+00:00October 7th, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

The "Weeds" series finale on the Showtime network left a lot of people disappointed. I was one of them until it hit me: The entire ending was about Nancy Botwin’s key question. What is your key question? Embracing your question provides the measuring stick for your success. It lights the path toward the results you need to achieve in order to be fulfilled. And, it defines what it means to be significant and contribute.

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