When Change Isn’t a Choice
The COVID-19 virus has forced everyone into a change that isn’t a choice. This piece about how to respond when change is out of your control is excerpted from Make Change Work (Wiley, 2013). [...]
26
Mar, 2020
18
Mar, 2020
What Your Team Needs Now is Leadership
Even if your organization hasn’t been hit by the COVID-19 crisis, you are feeling its impact. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this crisis, and we’ll explore them when the time [...]
5
Feb, 2020
The Problem with Artificial Intelligence Isn’t the Technology
Elon Musk is concerned about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the future. Who am I to disagree? After all, he is a tech billionaire with a boat load of academic and entrepreneurial credibility. [...]
28
Jan, 2020
When Is It Time to Fire Your Customer?
You aren't in business to lose customers. The reality is, however, that the customer isn’t always right and not every customer is right for you. There are times when getting rid of a customer can [...]
6
Jan, 2020
What Makes a Great Company Culture?
Peter Drucker is credited with saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” No one knows for sure if he actually said that, but it fits perfectly with my experience. The culture always wins. I wrote in [...]
25
Dec, 2019
Hope Isn’t a Strategy. It’s a Goal.
“I hope so” is the go-to response to questions ranging from trivial to world changing. However, wishing and hoping – as the legendary 1960s singer Dusty Springfield reminded us – won’t consistently yield the desired [...]
5
Nov, 2019
Are you creating a valuable employee experience?
A Baby Boomer leader recently lamented in a workshop that it felt as if keeping employees happy had replaced keeping customers happy as a company priority. There were a few jokes that this was the [...]
9
Oct, 2019
The Holy Grail of Change Leadership
We all want things to be better in our business. But for things to be better, they have to be different. And for things to be different, they have to change. Most of the leaders [...]
15
Sep, 2019
How to Increase customer-focused collaboration
Creating a collaborative, customer-focused team is simple – at least it’s supposed to be. Theoretically, all you need is establish a vision; goals and performance standards based on your agreements; resource allocation; training; and clear [...]
10
Sep, 2019
Do Corporations Finally Care?
Corporate CEOs aren’t paid to solve the worlds’ problems, protect communities, or look out for the long-term well-being of employees or suppliers. Milton Friedman told us that in 1970. Anything you do to protect the [...]
22
Aug, 2019
What makes you so relevant you are impossible to forget?
Your customers, both external and internal, are asking: Why you? Why now? What makes you relevant? More important, they will ask the same question every day into the future. Remaining relevant is your biggest challenge [...]
5
Aug, 2019
What makes – and keeps – your company relevant?
When was the last time you answered these three questions from the perspective of your client or customer: Why you? Why now? What makes you relevant? Better yet, when was the last time that you [...]
22
May, 2019
Five Reasons Your Team Isn’t Moving Faster
Past success only means that you used to be relevant. You have to move quicker if you want to stay up with your customers’ demands and your competitors’ innovation. So why do organizations struggle to [...]
13
May, 2019
Corporate Culture: Consistent Courageous Choices Make the Difference
"We think that society today suffers from a pervasive uncertainty about values, a relativism that undermines leadership and commitment alike.” This could be an observation about life in any area of contemporary society. It isn't. [...]
28
Apr, 2019
It’s Still About the Culture
Your organization's long-term success ultimately depends on an intangible. It is a culture where every person at every level is focused on and committed to delivering meaningful results. Your competitors don’t hire all the geniuses [...]