Exceptional effort

11 Mar, 2014

Inside the House of Lies: Why Large Consulting Firms Are Often Bad at Change

By |2016-10-29T15:29:36+00:00March 11th, 2014|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

I received this email last week. The author’s name has been withheld in order to protect his/her job: “I read your book Make Change Work. and it made me angry. What made me angry is the fact that I work as a management consultant for one of the largest consulting firms and I am ashamed how few (if any) of the wisdoms we actually take from your book and coach our clients accordingly. Very often, we are in gross ignorance of the very valid insights and tips you have in your little book.”

24 Feb, 2014

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

By |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.

4 Feb, 2014

Leaders Don’t Hide

By |2014-10-20T18:20:32+00:00February 4th, 2014|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change, Results|

Leaders distinguish themselves in times of great risk and great reward. Whether it is the political leader who bolsters our confidence in times of crisis or the business leader who follows her instincts to seize an opportunity, we respect and admire the leader who is out front when the stakes are high.

4 Jan, 2014

A Result to Remember Part II: How GE Proved that Sometimes it IS the Product

By |2016-10-29T15:29:36+00:00January 4th, 2014|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

Three weeks back I wrote about my exceptional service experience at Sewell Lexus of Dallas. The theme of the post was that it was the Sewell people rather than their product that has kept me as a loyal customer for over 20 years. The premise behind that post is the same one I offered in my 2006 book, Results Rule!: Fundamentals are the minimum. Being distinctive is the difference if it adds value. I can purchase a Lexus from a number of different dealers. The quality and service of the Sewell staff makes them distinctive in a way that adds extreme value. The very nice folks that service GE kitchen appliances just reminded me that you can’t forget the first part of my premise: Fundamentals are the minimum. Because without the fundamentals, there is nothing you can do to stand out with your customers (at least not in a positive way).

3 Jan, 2014

Why Most of Us Won’t Achieve Our New Year’s Resolutions

By |2016-10-29T15:29:37+00:00January 3rd, 2014|Accountability, Leadership, New Year's Resolutions, Personal Development, Results|

Most of the talk about New Year’s Resolutions is just that – talk. Despite all of our good intentions, most of us won’t achieve our goals for the year. Research released by the University of Scranton Psychology Department reports that only 8 percent of Americans are regularly successful in achieving their resolution. 49 percent achieve occasional success, and 24 percent are never successful. So in other words, the odds are stacked against you even if you set a goal for the New Year

18 Dec, 2013

A Result to Remember: It’s Not the Product. It’s the People.

By |2016-10-29T15:29:37+00:00December 18th, 2013|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change, Results|

Delivering customer service – at least the way it is practiced in most companies – is easy. The customer asks you for something, and you give it to them. Building a culture that is obsessed with serving customers is hard. Carl Sewell’s family of auto dealerships is at or near the top for sales and service with the brands they represent for one simple reason: They are the best at sustaining a culture that serves customers.

14 Oct, 2013

Three Lessons About Leading Change from the Debt Ceiling Chaos

By |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 |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 |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.

23 Jul, 2013

The New Normal Has Happened Before

By |2016-10-29T15:29:41+00:00July 23rd, 2013|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change, Results|

“When will things get back to normal?” That question has been asked countless times since the economic meltdown of 2008. Most people want to know when the job market will bounce back; the economy will return to something close to sustained growth; uncertainty will subside; or the rate of change will slow to a more manageable pace. But, what if this is it? What if instability, rapid change, and uncertainty are the new normal? And, what if I’m wrong and things bounce back quickly? If you can succeed now, you will crush it then.

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