Lead With Hope
Hope, we’ve been told, is not a plan or strategy. It is wishful thinking that cannot be measured. You can’t hold people accountable for failing to deliver on hope. Hope is, also, exactly what we [...]
13
Sep, 2021
12
Aug, 2021
What Your Team Needs Now is Leadership
Even if the COVID-19 crisis has thrown your organization into crisis, you continue to feel its impact. The important lessons on maintaining connection, productivity, and engagement will continue for months and years. In the meantime, [...]
27
Mar, 2018
Leading in a Politically Divisive Environment
It’s common for clients to identify challenges and opportunities that they want to see addressed when I present to their group. A group of municipal government leaders recently asked that I provide tips about leading [...]
13
Apr, 2015
What Made You Decide to Do What You Do?
This is the first reader question we have answered in the Five Friends blog. It seems many want to know how we all got started in this business and we are happy to share that [...]
15
Mar, 2015
What Are The Biggest Challenges Facing Businesses In The Next Five Years?
From Mark Sanborn: The biggest challenge businesses will face in the next five years is meeting increasing customer expectations. There is a current dilemma that will only get worse: the more you do for customers, [...]
20
Jul, 2014
What’s in a Name Change? Part III
The first two parts of this blog series dealt with what went wrong when the National Speakers Association announced a name change and re-branding effort at its annual convention on July 2. Today we look at what went right.
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Jul, 2014
What’s in a Name Change? Part I
The majority of the world spent the last five days living their life. A small slice of the universe who make their living selling ideas, however, were agitating themselves into a frenzy. In case you missed it, the National Speakers Association, an association of which I am a member, decided to re-brand itself and change its name to PLATFORM. This is a first world problem. In the context of all of the turmoil in the world, the re-naming of this 41-year old association ranks right up there with … well almost nothing. And yet, people on all sides of the argument lit up the blogosphere and social media channels supporting their positions … even if it meant refusing to consider that others might be equally right in their own stance (see my blog on “Is It Always Right to be Right” for more on that phenomenon.)
2
Jun, 2014
Are You a Challenger Brand?
There’s a quote about leaders and followers that suggests “If you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.” For many brands, that’s certainly true. We all understand there are a limited number of spots at the top and that in each category, there can only be one market leader. It’s also true that most brands will never even sniff the position at the front of their respective pack. But that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself, or your brand to follower status. Whether you’re in second place, third place, or last place, by adopting a challenger brand mentality and embracing three distinct “states,” you can step out of your role of follower and start creating a whole new view.
20
Apr, 2014
Generating Urgency: What’s Keeping You from Changing?
The willingness and urgency to change are based on emotional readiness not intellectual understanding. If intellectual understanding – knowing what we should do – was all it took to change, the gap between realizing we need to do something different and the work of implementing that change would be non-existent. But that’s not how it works.
24
Aug, 2013
Another Book About 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.”
13
Aug, 2013
Connect with People Where They Are
Scott Keller and Carolyn Aiken, consultants at McKinsey & Company, suggest that 80 percent of what leaders care about and talk about when trying to enlist support for change does not matter to 80 percent of the workforce. To gain the commitment for the change that you want, you must connect with people where they are. You do that by making the change relevant and real.
31
Mar, 2013
Congress, the President, the Sequester, and You
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.
12
Feb, 2012
Right Number – Wrong Measure
What if the unemployment rate is the wrong measure? The U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January 2012, and the unemployment rate dropped from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent. That’s huge, and everyone should be excited regardless of their political affiliation. This is the type of employment gain that solidifies the economic recovery. But, what if the right number turns out to be the wrong measure?
10
Dec, 2011
Delivering Results in the New Abnormal
So here’s a scary thought: What if the turbulence that we’ve seen in the past three years is the new normal? This is an exciting time to be in the business of building a team, a department, and an entire organization. It is not for the faint of heart, however. The legendary brands of the future are being created today by leaders and organizations who relish the opportunity to compete and master life in the new abnormal.
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Oct, 2011
Three Questions Determine Your Value
The reality of today’s market-driven world is brutal. We are all better at some things than others. Most of us are actually excellent – or at least better than average – at some aspects of our business or personal performance. And, that doesn’t matter unless what we do well adds value to the customer.