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14 Oct, 2012

The Exploitation of Honey Boo Boo

By |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 |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.

22 Sep, 2012

Constant Change is the New Stability

By |2016-10-29T15:29:48+00:00September 22nd, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

You can blame technology or globalization or anything else you want. It doesn’t really change the fact that the status quo is the kiss of death for every person, every organization, and every marketplace. And that is where constant change becomes the new stability.

16 Sep, 2012

If They Don’t Trust You

By |2016-10-29T15:29:48+00:00September 16th, 2012|Accountability, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Results|

Two incidents occurred in the past week that reinforces a critical factor in every leader’s effectiveness: The impact of mistrust. Both incidents prove this truth about the ability to influence others: If they don’t trust you, everything you say will be twisted against you and nothing you say will be given the benefit of the doubt.

31 Aug, 2012

The Presidential Election & Defining Integrity

By |2016-10-29T15:29:48+00:00August 31st, 2012|Accountability, Communication, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership|

There are several guarantees in the campaign for President of the United States: • The other side – regardless of the side you are on – will be portrayed by their opponents as completely out of touch with the “average” American • Every candidate will make promises that can only be kept with the cooperation of Congress, and every candidate will pledge to work with their opponents across the isle • Personal attacks will be plentiful and usually cloaked in an argument about policy implications • The choice between candidates will always be framed as two distinct visions that will determine the destiny and fate of the country • Integrity – or specifically the lack of it – will be called into question by the candidates, their surrogates, and the media pundits There is little any of us can do to change the first four items on this list. They are going to happen regardless of any efforts to restore civility and common sense to the campaign.

22 Aug, 2012

Where Are You Running?

By |2016-10-29T15:29:49+00:00August 22nd, 2012|Accountability, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

Most of the people I speak with today describe their life as running as fast and far as they can … and then being asked to run even faster and farther. One of the participants in a leadership boot camp I’m conducting for a client asked for help with time management. It turns out that she didn’t really need time management tips at all. She keeps a calendar with priorities, and she knows all of the time management techniques she needs to be successful. In fact, this leader is widely considered to be very effective by her colleagues. The problem that we face isn’t time management. It is focus and resource allocation to be more effective.

1 Aug, 2012

Is Temporary the New Permanent?

By |2016-10-29T15:29:49+00:00August 1st, 2012|Accountability, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Leadership, Results|

A friend emailed me late last week with a question: Are temporary jobs replacing permanent jobs as the standard in the workplace? The answer is it depends on how you define a temporary job. The use of temporary jobs is definitely increasing as companies work to keep their flexibility. Employers learned a lesson during the past recession: You don’t want to be caught with a huge overhead when the economy starts faltering.

25 Jul, 2012

It Comes Down to Accountability … Again

By |2016-10-29T15:29:49+00:00July 25th, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

Accountability and the execution that accompanies it explain why the smartest or most talented people don’t always experience the greatest levels of success. If accountability didn’t matter, the company with the best product or service would dominate the marketplace. And, every government agency would deliver amazing value. Talent, time, experience, and resources do matter. As we enter the 2012 Summer Olympics, the country of Monaco is a safe bet to continue its string of 26 Olympiads (both summer and winter) without winning a single medal. So if you are the USA Men’s Basketball Team competing against Monaco go ahead and take the day off from accountability. I am guessing that you will survive. But that’s not your reality. You don’t hire all the smart people while your competitors hire dunces. You aren’t running the most up-to-date computer systems while your competitors are using Commodore 64’s. Accountability is – more times than not – the difference between achieving your goals and getting beat in the marketplace.

1 Jul, 2012

Delcare Independence from Fear and Uncertainty

By |2016-10-29T15:29:49+00:00July 1st, 2012|Accountability, Business Strategy, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Others, Performance Improvement, Personal Development, Results|

We live in an era of unprecedented uncertainty. At least that is what we are led to believe. Yes, the economy is sputtering at best. Jobs are at risk or non-existent. Europe could implode financially. The Middle East could implode politically. Depending on your political views, either the left or the right is about to take the country over a cliff from which there is no return. The challenges we face are certainly more expansive in their scope, but unprecedented uncertainty? Hardly. Do you believe that the level of personal anxiety is any higher today than that which existed during the Cuban Missile Crisis; World War I or II; the Civil War; the Great Depression; or life in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War?

21 Jun, 2012

7 Deadly Sins of Business Success Today

By |2014-10-19T22:19:44+00:00June 21st, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Innovation, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

Our sins, as we learn from religious teaching, corrupt our character and cloud our sense of what is right and wrong. Most important, they form a habit pattern that leads to our downfall. It works that way for organizations, too. Here are the seven deadly sins for business success today:

9 Jun, 2012

Responsibility, Accountability, and Results

By |2016-10-29T15:29:50+00:00June 9th, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

My friend Larry Winget (www.LarryWinget.com), blew up his Facebook following last week when he posted this comment: “If your life sucks, it’s because you suck!” A number of people missed Larry’s point. Your life isn’t defined by your circumstances unless you allow it. There are many people – like my friends W. Mitchell and Chad Hymas – who have refused to allow tragic circumstances that were not their fault define their lives. And, there are others whose lives have spiraled out of control despite living in ideal circumstances. Circumstances can make it easier or more difficult to succeed. They can define your environment. But ultimately, the choice to be personally responsible and accountable is more important than your circumstances.

6 Jun, 2012

If Shakespeare Wrote About Business Today

By |2016-10-29T15:29:50+00:00June 6th, 2012|Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

You may not remember Dick the Butcher. He was a rather forgettable character in William Shakespeare’s play, Henry VI, Part II. The chances are good, however, that you remember Dick’s famous line: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Henry VI addresses England’s loss of its territories to the French and, most important, the personal jealousies that tor the political system apart. Dick, a follower of the anarchist character Jack Cade, believes that lawyers played an active role in keeping the common people down. So what would Shakespeare’s character say today if he were to write about the poor performance and caustic environment that plagues many organizations and keeps workers from being productive?

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