Join us for a live webinar spotlighting 3 veterans who’ve leveraged Harvard Business School Online courses to accelerate their careers and enhance their leadership, finance, and strategy skills.
Read More
Control machine bias to prevent discriminating against your consumers and damaging your organization.
Read More
Artificial intelligence has grown exponentially over the last five years and shows signs of continued growth. As the hype from its unknown potential begins to die down and organizations begin exploring high-value use cases, the commercialization of quantum technology solutions promises entirely new paradigms to navigate.
Read More
Lanham, MD – Crowned Grace International (CGINTL) proudly congratulates their Founder and CEO, Dr. Stephanie A. Parson, for being recognized as one of Maryland’s Most Admired CEOs for 2024.
Read More
When it comes to reaching the highest levels of success in a professional setting, executives are often faced with unique challenges that require specialized support. This is where executive coaching comes in – a personalized and tailored approach to unlocking an individual’s full potential and driving their success in meeting your organization’s mission.
Read More
In 2024, generative AI will continue to dominate the conversation. As organizations seek to capitalize on the opportunities and mitigate the risks ushered in by this disruptive technology, CIOs and IT leaders will need to prioritize their initiatives and align their capabilities accordingly.
Read More
As a cast member in the highly-praised Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show, I had the amazing opportunity to partake in a record-breaking 15 minutes, captivating over 120M viewers worldwide. This experience provided valuable leadership insights highly applicable to the business world.
Read More
Essential tips for maintaining health and wellness while working remotely. Azevedo, leading from Black Diamond, WA, emphasizes the importance of a balanced lifestyle for telecommuters, highlighting strategies such as developing a consistent sleep schedule, eating healthy, managing stress, and creating a comfortable workspace. He advocates for integrating physical activity, mindful practices, and human interaction into daily routines to support a holistic approach to well-being and professional success in the digital workspace.
Read More
[Lanham, Maryland, Oct 30, 2023] – The Black Wealth Summit 2023, in its third year spearheaded by the acclaimed “Millionaire Mentor” Cedric Nash, once again delivered groundbreaking knowledge to inspire and guide individuals on their journey to financial success. With a stellar lineup of speakers and panelists, including experts from Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, New York Life, and the illustrious Hollywood actor and businessman, Morris Chestnut, this summit made a profound impact on those in attendance.
Read More
As leaders in your respective organizations, it’s important to understand the significance of building credibility within the team. Credibility, in simple terms, means having your employees trust and believe in the decisions and actions that you take. When a leader is credible, it allows them to have a more engaged and productive team. In this blog post, we will discuss a few ways to help build credibility within your team and ultimately create a work environment built on trust.
Read More
The word ‘retirement’ while serving in military service can be met with mixed feelings. It can be exciting and viewed as an earned achievement. But it can also represent the unknown due to role and schedule changes, even some bewilderment with the different agencies and programs connected with transition while trying to decipher hiring options or just the future path. Stepping back to assess where you are, where you want to be, how to be ready, and what steps are needed to get there helps, but today’s transition programs offer so much more to prepare and launch smoothly.
Read More
Design thinking provides a framework for driving innovation within an organization. By using design thinking, business leaders can create new products, services, and processes that are customer-centric and solve real problems. Additionally, design thinking can help business leaders to better manage projects, by taking into account the user experience and end goal from the beginning of the project. Ultimately, using design thinking can help businesses to become more innovative and successful in the 21st century.
Read More
After 28½ years of active duty military service that resulted in the usual numerous PCS moves, deployments, and growth opportunities for my career and family, I wanted to try my hand on a working ranch. So I traded my Belleville flesh-side out cattle hide boots for a pair of smooth tanned leather Ariat western boots and headed for work as an intern on a 100-acre cattle ranch under the US Army Career Skills Program (CSP).
Read More
Women continue to be the fastest growing subgroup of U.S. veterans as reported by the Veteran’s Administration. In 1980, the U.S. Census Bureau began asking women about their military service with results showing women veterans were less than 3% of the U.S. veteran population. Based upon data projections from the Congressional Research Service, the female veteran population is projected to increase from 9.4% in 2015 to 16.3% of the U.S. veteran population by 2043.
Read More
Perception is reality – or so the sales idiom goes. Turns out that phrase is best left in a sales conference room when discussing a Client’s perspective. Perception biases are subtle, and require careful attention to avoid them.
Read More
“Begin as you mean to continue.” ~ Violet Watts ~
These are wise words and can be applied to any relationship or work endeavor. And while leaders may not be thinking of these words specifically as they begin business ventures, strategic initiatives, and/or projects, they usually work to do just that – they strive to begin as they mean for it to continue.
Read More
There is no question that all industries, professions and lifestyles will create a new norm in our post-pandemic society. The CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus apply to any contagious disease. We’ve just not been paying close attention to them. So now is a good time for leaders to emphasize- if you are sick, stay home! It should not matter if the illness is a cold, flu or covid.
Read More
Integrity is a fundamental assessment that employers make and seek in the employees they hire. It’s no surprise the same contextual assessment applies to the Army’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP). The Transition Services Support Team (TSST) and Connect Services Support Team (CSST) service as a conduit from the field to Leadership.
Read More
It feels like this pandemic is here to stay indefinitely. That’s the bad news. The good news is many companies and their workers have sought, found and utilized technology more successfully than previously imagined. For leaders, the question arises, how to engage employees working remotely when stress levels are high?
Read More
COVID has changed the complexion of every aspect of life, globally. The pandemic set off a sense of panic for the physical health of ourselves and loved ones. It also set off a sense of panic for the fiscal health of our businesses. COVID clearly showed the strengths and weaknesses of our business models, our expectations and our people.
Read More
In the midst of ever-changing, sometimes increasingly stressful times it is easy to lose focus on your place and your purpose. We become so consumed by wanting to appear as though we have it all under control that we do not see when we are spiraling out of control.
Read More
It seems we’ve been here before. And we’ve not just survived the crisis, we adapted, we grew, and we thrived. And we will again, with new technologies, new attitudes and new opportunities for our leaders, team members and Clients.
Read More
During the pandemic, we have been impacted on day-to-day tasks and ways to conduct business especially in the meetings and events industry. Face to face engagements produces excellent collaboration opportunities. In this time, we have had to adjust the way we conduct our meetings and events. The number one alternative is virtual events.
Read More
Whether you have 24 days or 24 months left, your separation date is coming. So, when should you start preparing for separation? Transitioning can become a significant emotional event that causes stress if you are not prepared. It is important to plan ahead by visiting your local Soldier for Life/ Transition Assistance Program (TAP) center early and often. Allow yourself enough time take advantage of the programs available, ask questions, seek resume writing support, and start the Veteran Administrative (VA) process early.
Read More
Life is full of choices. Our jobs are full of choices- decisions. Do I hire this person or that one? Should I fire this person, re-train her, or reprimand instead? In only the first three months of this year, the decisions and choices surrounding all of us became literally life threatening with the outbreak of COVID-19.
Read More
If you look at the world’s history, all great leaders emerge at a time of crisis and great hardship. Leaders from Hannibal, Caesar, and Alexander to Napoleon, Lincoln and Churchill all came at a time when their nations were going through civil unrest or faced a much bigger eternal threat.
Read More
The advent of the Internet has certainly shrunk our world! It has brought groceries to our door, answers to trivia questions in the nick of time, and even facilitated marriages! E-commerce is thriving! So it is without question that harnessing the power of the Internet has a vital position in the workplace.
Read More
Business has a variety of elements some pertaining to profits, some to infrastructure. An organizations culture contributes to both realms. To ensure the success of a company, all aspects must be monitored for efficiency and effectiveness. There are options available in measuring an organizational culture. They all involve types of surveys often influenced, written, and/or administered by consulting businesses.
Read More
Most leaders live by this axiom-which is how they earned their positions as leaders. While this is not 100% possible, it is possible to strive for this. And if you are a person being led, your leaders will note your efforts and appreciate them.
Read More
Trustworthiness is the most important and admirable qualities that you can have as a leader. An extraordinary leader is dependable and a person of their word. They are consistent in their actions time after time. They know what they know and are not afraid to ask for help when they don’t know.
Read More
Chop Wood, Carry Water sounds a lot like Mr. Miyagi saying, “Wax on…wax off.” And in some regards the phrases do represent the same thing. To be clear, Chop Wood, Carry Water is the title of an excellent book on mastering one’s craft (by J. Medcalf). And that’s what Mr. Miyagi was trying to teach Ralph Macchio’s character in “The Karate Kid.” Both texts are about the importance of disciplined action.
Read More
Fleas can jump many times their own height, but not elephants.
Large organizations cannot be versatile. A large organization is effective through its mass rather than through its agility. Mass enables the organization to put to work a great many more kinds of knowledge and skill than could possibly be combined in any one person or small group.
Read More
Being the leader of skilled and productive employees who are motivated to perform well can be very easy. The true test of leadership is when you have to work with difficult employees who lack skill as well as the motivation to improve.
Read More
Annnnd we’re back! Thank you for joining us again! If you’ve been following closely, you’ll know the most recent blog posts have been on Disciplined Thought and Design Thinking. How can we possibly follow those fantastic topics? Simple. With fantastic people! It’s generally well-accepted that everyone is fantastic at something, but this blog is about a unique group — Disciplined People.
Read More
It is important to assess the leadership quality of your management and employees to ensure that the best people are leading the organization. A manager with good leadership qualities can motivate and inspire employees, assign the right people to the right task, and ensure that the organization works at the best productivity levels as a collective unit at all times.
Read More
When You Have a Culture of Discipline, You Don’t Need Hierarchy: Disciplined Thought
Seems that every year the pace of our society gets faster and faster. Not only are customers and clients swayed by the next bigger, shinier promise, so are companies and organizations. In the name of efficiency, innovation, politics or bigger market shares companies and organizations are also swayed by the next big thing- a new theme, new technology all requiring not just upgrades or updates, but brand new equipment and sometimes personnel.
Read More
Running a business, or any organization, is a lot like running a military campaign. You work in an uncertain environment and have to manage organizational resources and personnel while safeguarding your assets against competitors and achieve business goals. The word strategy itself comes from military usage but has been skilfully adapted into the business world.
Read More
The modern business environment presents a lot of uncertainty. Changes in government regulations, threats of new competitors, and rapidly advancing technology all pose risks for businesses.
Read More
We are looking to hire a Business Analyst – Classification Specialists and Payroll Clerks.
Read More
We are seeking a Database Administrator to join our team! You will be responsible for testing and implementing computer databases.
Read More
The human resource project lead ensures that human resource programs support the long-term goals of our client. This position performs professional work of considerable difficulty overseeing a range of administrative functions related to human resource management, employee development and customer service.
Read More
The Prince George’s County Youth CareerConnect program (PGC-YCCP) is a 4 year STEM education initiative funded by the U.S Department of Labor to provide over 2,500 high school students in Prince George’s County with education and skills training, internships, college prep and dual enrollment, mentoring, and job readiness training to excel in the high growth industries in Healthcare and Information Technology(IT).
Read More
With the speed of change today, a five-year plan will already be obsolete within a few months. Time is of the essence to adapt to change and innovation, meaning leaders must be on the cusp of development. Two initial qualities for alert leaders are: faith in oneself and faith in others.
Read More
Innovation is like motherhood; everyone worships it, but it’s surrounded by a lot of mystique and bogus intellectualizing. The first step on the way to inspiring innovation is to ruthlessly expunge the romantic myths that surround it — they often stop us from seeing the fresh ideas that are right in front of us. Here are four of the biggest myths about innovation, along with tips for seeing your way around them:
Read More
Virginia M Rometty, new CEO of IBM, joins Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, to be among the elite 2 percent of women who hold CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies. We still have a long way to go, but now that we see more women in positions of power, the question is: How will they use their power? Will they fulfill the late congresswoman Bella Abzug’s prediction that in the 21st century, power will not change women; women will transform the meaning of power?
Read More
Rise and shine! Morning time just became your new best friend. Love it or hate it, utilizing the morning hours before work may be the key to a successful and healthy lifestyle. That’s right, early rising is a common trait found in many CEOs, government officials, and other influential people. Margaret Thatcher was up every day at 5 a.m.; Frank Lloyd Wright at 4 am and Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney wakes at 4:30am just to name a few. I know what you’re thinking – you do your best work at night. Not so fast. According to Inc. Magazine, morning people have been found to be more proactive and more productive. In addition, the health benefits for those with a life before work go on and on. Let’s explore 5 of the things successful people do before 8 am.
Read More
It’s easy to understand and beat the drum for the big ethical mishaps. It’s not at all difficult to identify the big no-no’s — insider trading, sexual harassment, environmental violations, stealing etc. These situations don’t just happen. They begin as a slow drip or leak, that left untended turn into a soggy mess. All those little dilemmas, those situations that “just don’t feel right” are just the first raindrop in a “storm of scorn”.
Read More
Corporate culture, is defined as “a pattern of basic assumptions that are considered valid and that are taught to new members as the way to perceive, think and feel in the organization.” (Nelson & Quick, 2011) At its most basic, corporate culture is about how an organization gets things done. Although an intangible, it is a critical asset that can either help or hinder a company’s competitive strategy.
Read More
Do you know if your manager considers you a top performer? Every manager wants top performers and most people want to do their very best at work. Requirements for exceptional job performance should not be a mystery on your job. Performance expectations should be clearly communicated, attainable and properly rewarded. How well is that done in your organization?
Read More
A couple of months ago I took my car to the shop to get four new tires. I knew that winter was coming and I didn’t want to be caught out on slick or snowy roads with bald tires. So I went to a place that was advertising a great sale on four tires expecting to leave there having spent under $200. Of course you know where this story is going…
Read More
“Alignment is that optimal state in which strategy, employees, customers, and key processes work in concert to propel growth and profits. Aligned organizations enjoy greater customer and employee satisfaction and produce superior returns to shareholders. Aligned companies focus employees and their work on key goals….
Read More
The Strategy Focused Organization
How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Environment
By Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton
In understanding the organizational structure, one finds that their success primarily relies on the employees to accomplish the vision and mission of the leadership team. The vision comes from the leadership team, based on the expectations of the shareholders. The leadership team identifies his/her area of vision ownership and begins to develop their strategies that their team members will complete to implement the vision.
Read More
Flight of the Buffalo
Soaring to Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead
By James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer
The concept of climate and culture continue to evolve, however, is generally understood to be the organization’s influence on employees motivation and behavior. It includes: organization’s structure, the system of rewards and punishment and the perceived warmth and support of those within the individuals “sphere of touch points”. It includes the formal and informal organizations policies, practices and procedures. It begins with clarity of the organizational vision, mission, values, goals and the accepted manner in attaining these goals. Marcus Buckingham (1999) describes 12 questions to ask to determine if your organization has a productive, positive, warm work environment. How would your employees respond to the following questions:
Read More
Let’s review the 7 keys to success.
Do and Dare
Double Your Failure Rate
Use Your Will
You Need Determination and Commitment
Excellence is Required
Vision is Necessary
Go to Success
We covered the first four keys in an earlier post. We continue here with the last three AND one more to round out the list.
Let’s talk about success. Take a look at these 7 keys to success:
The holiday season is upon us and most of us have shopped for that special something for family members and friends. We’ve decorated our homes and trimmed our trees. And some of you more ambitious types may have even started baking your favorite holiday treats. And of course we all enjoy that wonderful tradition of wrapping gifts. I usually buy several rolls of wrapping paper just so that the presents under my tree are wrapped in a variety of colors and prints. As the end of the year draws near, I look forward to New Year’s Eve and the promise of a new year and new beginnings. We put a lot of care into preparing for the holidays and ensuring that everything is merry and bright. So I thought it would be fitting to put as much energy into wrapping up our year professionally and preparing for new leadership challenges and opportunities in the New Year.
Read More
Review your career plan
Assess your current position
Top 10 ways to keep employees engaged leading up to the end of the year.
Read More
Wow! It’s December already. Where has the year gone? If you are like me (and many other people), right about now you are beginning to look back over the year and assess how well you’ve done. You might be thinking about your New Year’s resolutions for 2013. Aside from the standard– exercise more, eat a healthier diet, and lose weight–you might also be considering what successes you had in 2012 and how you can do even better in 2013.
Read More
Last month HP agreed to transfer 3000 of its employees to General Motors (GM) as GM moves IT operations back “in-house”. Randy Mott (GM, CIO) decided to bring most of the company’s IT work in-house. In fact, GM announced that it will bring most of its IT work back in-house over the next three to five years (~10,000 positions) – a dramatic about-face for the automaker, which was an early adopter of outsourcing and offshoring. While most companies may not be making such major insourcing moves, many are reconsidering the outsource-insource mix.
Read More
I am a frustrated techno-geek. During my Air Force career I was a communications officer, which meant I had the privilege of working with some very smart, IT savvy individuals on a daily basis. So I worked very hard to read, ask questions and try to gain as much technical proficiency as some of my co-workers. It wasn’t a total waste of time, but it was exhausting. I never really caught up.
Read More
Cloud computing is one of the myriad of technologies available today that make our lives “easier”. Cloud computing is said to be the tool which will usher in the age of the IT service-delivery provider (SDP) in a similar manner to Internet communications creating the age of the Internet service provider. Every major Internet vendor, IT vendor and carrier wants to be an SDP. How much upgrading and automation is enough? How do you know?
Read More
Motivation does not come naturally to everyone, but it can be learned and developed. Your objective as a leader is to develop an environment where your team members can develop the ability to motivate themselves. Create an environment where your employees:
Read More
Project management is often viewed as a necessary evil. There are many funny (and unattributed) quotes that speak to the complexity of the project management challenge. For example:
Read More
Many people are familiar with the hard-charging, take-no-prisoners type of leader. He rarely shows his soft side and you begin to doubt if he even has one! He is forceful, direct, and knows how to “get ‘er done!” But there is another type of leader who is also very effective in a much more understated manner.
Read More
While in ROTC as a cadet, I recall hearing about mentors. I didn’t know better, so when I initially came on active duty, I waited patiently for someone to mentor me. I figured since everything else was nicely organized in a formal program, if I looked long enough, I’d eventually find out where I could sign up and get a mentor. With hindsight I can see I got the whole concept wrong.
Read More
“Ten good soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.”–Euripides
Here’s the notion–business success depends on the quality of the leaders(s) within an organization. Given the money and incentives lavished upon CEOs, there is a tremendous amount of credibility for this notion, at least at the senior management level. However, if good leadership truly equates to good business from a CEO perspective, how much of a greater competitive advantage would companies enjoy if they developed leaders throughout the organization?
Read More
Most of us have an idea of what being an effective global leader means; however, few take the time to study what these leaders know, do and believe. Some go as far as to know what makes a global leader effective; however don’t take the time to determine if they truly believe the actions these leaders take on a daily basis are relevant to their own professional growth. And even fewer take the time to consistently do what effective global leaders do. It’s not because they don’t want to know, do and believe, it’s because many are so caught up in the trenches of surviving for today – they can’t see anything or do anything else. They are missing the forest because of the trees.
Read More
In speaking with CEOs from around the country, one continued theme is expressed – how do I keep my leadership team excited about being a member of our company? There’s no one answer or a magic pill for this; however there are a few thoughts which are easily implemented.
Read More
“Inspiring a shared vision is the most efficient way to produce outstanding results.” –Jack Shiefer (taken from The Leadership Challenge)
Read More
Too many people wake up on Monday mornings dreading the workday ahead. Not because they don’t like what they do, but rather they don’t like the people they work with or work for. How many times have you heard (or said) “My supervisor is useless” or “If Jim asks me one more dumb question about his own job, I’m going to scream. He’s the senior person around here!” You may even feel like quitting and finding another job just to get away from all the “problem people” you work with.
Read More
Human beings have organized themselves into teams since squads of cavemen surrounded and killed wooly mammoths. The best teams are passionate about their work – and you can’t forge or force that kind of spirit. It bubbles up from within the hearts, souls and minds of team members. However, as a manager, you can create the emotional conditions from which passion will emerge. These include trust, sharing, camaraderie, commitment, common purpose and confidence.
Read More
Mention the word ‘diversity’ in a company and the reactions you get will be, well, diverse: a knowing wink, attesting to the “yeah, we’ve checked THAT box” attitude; a rolling of the eyes and inward groans, indicating a “we do it because quotas are required” environment; a shrug of the shoulders and a heavy sigh, illustrative of HR’s upcoming annual diversity training requirement, but with no real understanding or concern for why it’s required.
Read More
Too often, conflict in the workplace hides like a smoldering fire, waiting to burst into a roaring inferno with the addition of just the tiniest bit of fuel. Everyone can feel the tension, but no one wants to address it. Eventually the conflict begins to affect performance, morale, and employee retention. If this sounds like your workplace, then you have experienced a potential crisis situation! Understanding how to manage this type of situation is the basis of conflict resolution.
Read More
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the word “dysfunctional” probably describes more people than the word “normal” does. When it comes to CEOs and executives, it’s almost certainly true.
Read More
Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply embedded organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?
Read More
The best advice I ever got as a supervisor was from a very wise flight superintendent. He told me that if I would take care of the people, the mission would take care of itself. He mentioned this to me as he observed me in a moment of insanity frantically trying to figure out how to learn every detail of everyone else’s job. It was one of those ‘what were you thinking?’ moments. There were easily 30-40 people in seven different disciplines and I didn’t have a clue what any of them did. I was totally out of my depth.
Read More
Over the past two decades, many organizations have undertaken some form of diversity initiative. In fact, it is estimated that more than 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have such efforts underway. However, even with a significant commitment of resources–time, money, people and infrastructure–many organizations are not achieving the results they hoped for and are not experiencing the benefits that a diverse workforce and an inclusive organization and initiative promise.
Read More
Many managers lack fundamental training in managing people. But, even more importantly, managers lack the values, sensitivity, and awareness needed to interact effectively all day long with people. Skills and techniques are easier to teach, but values, beliefs, and attitudes are much harder to teach – and harder for managers to learn. Yet, these are the underlying issues that will most make managers successful – or not.
Read More
Moving from individual contributor to front-line manager for the first time is a significant transition. Today’s business environment often fails to provide the support and leadership development training necessary to aid the front-line leaders during this important transition, often with negative consequences for the entire organization. Now more than ever, in flatter organizations, more responsibilities have been pushed down to the front-line manager,where the ‘rubber meets the road’.
Read More
I like lists and projects. I’m not sure why, except that the existence of both usually helps me feel as if I’m making progress–simply because they exist. However, I’m constantly reminded that busyness and progress are not synonymous and that some things–especially important things–don’t have projected completion dates. Leadership development is one of those things.
Read More
Four behaviors distinguish bad leaders from average or well regarded leaders:
Read More
In recent months several high-level leaders have mysteriously lost their way. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund and a leading French politician, was arraigned on charges of sexual assault. Before that David Sokol, rumored to be Warren Buffett’s successor, was forced to resign for trading in Lubrizol stock prior to recommending that Berkshire Hathaway purchase the company. Examples abound of other recent failures:
Read More
Jobs shape us in many ways, according to respondents to this month’s column.
For example, Sue Stewart said that “…we become our jobs.” Charlie Cullinane went further, saying that “Not only do we become our jobs while doing them but we keep many of these traits even when retired.” This led Illysa to comment, “One more reason we must choose not only our careers but our work places carefully: who do we want to become?” Heidi Olson wondered “if the change in hormones when gaining power is responsible for some of the overly confident and unbelievably nervy things some CEOs and dictators do once in power.”
Read More
Management gurus and theorists persistently seek an impossible formula – the universal recipe for successful management and leadership. Is there truly one perfect formula for leadership?
Read More
There are many definitions of leadership, possibly because there are so many different aspects of leadership and so many ways to conceptualize leadership. However, there are common elements that form the core of the phenomenon of leadership: it is a group phenomenon; it involves influence; it is goal directed and action-oriented; and it is a process.
Read More
When I was a lieutenant in the Air Force, I bought my first car. I knew I needed to negotiate to get the best deal I could and I thought I knew what I was doing. I was fresh out of college and truly on my own for the first time. It turns out that I wasn’t a very good negotiator. When I tried to get the salesman to lower the price, he laughed at me. Ok, he didn’t actually laugh at me.
Read More
To get a glimpse of what tomorrow’s young global managers might be like as leaders, take a look at how today’s young people think about communications.
Read More
Workplace teams have been studied to death in recent years, and the verdicts are in. They’re a success—and a disaster. They lead to big productivity improvements—and they peter out ineffectively. People love ’em. People hate ’em.
Read More
According to Webster’s II New College Dictionary, Third Edition, negotiate is defined as a) to meet and discuss with another in order to reach an agreement; b) to settle by meeting or discussing; c) to transfer title to or ownership of (e.g., notes) to another in exchange for equivalent value. Most of us have negotiated something before. Whether it was a dream job offer or a new car purchase, chances are you walked away wondering if you really got the best deal possible.
Read More
Increasing costs for materials and utilities with an inability to raise prices on final goods and services due to reduced demand or competition, and competitive pressures arising literally from around the globe, create a difficult enough environment to operate a company. But leadership problems in business can stifle creativity, reduce productivity and cripple a company to the point it can no longer remain viable. These problems stem from a variety of sources, from individual personality conflicts to dysfunctional group dynamics.
Read More
What a turbulent and unpredictable year 2011 was – upon reflection, 2011 has been a wild roller coaster ride for many, a tough road for others and a walk in the park for very few. So what can we learn from LMA’s 2011 L.E.A.D. Survey of the leadership management landscape? Here are Five Key Issues that have surfaced in 2011 and which must be addressed by leaders and managers to drive success in 2012.
Read More
Top leaders understand how all the elements of business acumen work together – such leaders use their business acumen to make things simpler. They reduce complexity so they can clarify their decision making, test their logic and set forth defined priorities.
Read More
Project management consists of a set of complex and necessary tasks to solve a problem or meet a need. No two projects are the same, so no two projects can or should be managed the same way. However, there are some standard processes and common practices used by project management professionals.
Read More
How important is project management? Is it a case of “failing to plan means planning to fail?” Or is it a mystical blend of timing, finding the right team members, ‘good’ requirements, and a bit of razzmatazz which results in a happy coincidence of customer satisfaction and acceptable project deliverables? While a bit of good fortune never hurts, successful project outcomes are rarely the result of random chance but rather the result of project management best practices. In this survey, we want your feedback and experience to uncover some of the key elements for a successful project outcome.
Read More
There is a set of sunglasses we wear that colors our experiences in the context of right and wrong. When considering this, I am not speaking in terms of morality, but about a person’s experience. More specifically, within this context one person is right and the other person is wrong.
Read More
When it comes to their own development, there’s something irresistibly appealing to leaders about setting stretch goals. Just selecting one feels like an achievement. And the idea that with enough energy, focus, and initiative, meeting a single goal could dramatically improve a whole company and turn an executive into a better, more developed “super leader” — well, who could resist that?
Read More
Having way too much to do has become a universal truth in the business world. A 40-hour work week is practically considered part-time and most people are handling a workload that used to be managed by two or even three people just a few years ago. Many people are simply overwhelmed by it all. As easy as it would be to blame the employers and companies it’s not really their fault, and fixing it may not even be in their power.
Read More
Are you read to lead? To assess your readiness, ask these questions:
Succession planning, sometimes referred to as talent management or bench strength, gets mixed reviews. It has been said that many succession planning initiatives often fall short of their original intent. How well is it being done in your organization?
Read More
Most managers have good intentions when it comes to delivering feedback to employees. But the reality is that most of them aren’t very good at it. What’s the cause? Few role models combined with few training opportunities.
Read More
I became familiar with the phrase opportunity to excel when I was a brand new lieutenant, fresh out of college with “butter bars” and no idea of how to do anything. I remember at some point I was voluntold for a task. Not familiar with the term voluntold? That is when you are highly encouraged (told) to volunteer for a task. Or, better yet, your boss is at a meeting and he/she volunteers you for a project and tells you about it afterward. The first time that happened to me, I remember being a little irate.
Read More
If I had to come up with one definition of leadership, it would be the ability to motivate people to work together toward a common goal. Leadership is about uniting, not dividing.
In that context, I’m thinking we have a serious leadership crisis in America.
Would you rather have a job that pays $80,000 a year that lets you get 7.5 hours of sleep a night, or a job that pays $140,000 a year and allows you time for only six hours of sleep a night?
Read More
Think your “Employee of the Month” program is a great way to recognize performance?
Think again. Praising an employee should:
Chances are you spend more time commenting on blogs, updating, linking and tweeting than you ever imagined you would. We all do. Some post anonymously on blogs, but most of you see it as a means to establish an online presence to network, raise your visibility, and invite business opportunities.
Read More
Brainstorming is commonly used for creative problem solving. When done well, the results are increased productivity and efficiency, and most importantly, a problem gets SOLVED. Do organizations make good use of this technique? What are some of the best practices?
Read More
There are two types of mentoring relationships: formal and informal. Informal relationships spring up independent of the organization. Formal mentoring programs are assigned by the company and may factor in the person’s experience, job duties, potential career path, race/gender/ethnicity/orientation/disability or personality. Their goal is to promote employee engagement and talent development.
Read More
Pay only goes so far. Higher salaries are like the bigger house syndrome: Move into a bigger house and initially it feels roomier, but after awhile larger becomes the new normal.
Read More
In a recent State of the Union address, President Barack Obama mentioned the word “innovation” nine times, more than any other president ever has, according to Fareed Zakaria. This highlights a key point that in this new era, rife with volatility and ambiguity, innovation is critical in sustaining organic growth and securing success in a globally competitive environment. We know that there exists a strong connection between innovation and diversity and inclusion; our challenge is to help our leaders and fellow professionals understand that connection.
Read More
Many of our clients are scrambling to reinvent themselves in this challenging economy and the self-knowledge gained from knowing personality type gives them a clear advantage. Wouldn’t it be great to receive a guide for revamping your career?
Read More
Citizen Kane, the story of newspaper tycoon, Charles Foster Kane, one of the richest men in the world. The film tells his story through a series of flashbacks from the people closest to him. The movie details his trail to fame and then his ultimate fall from it. Citizen Kane is a must see for CEO’s and executives, with guidelines on how to stay at the top.
Read More
There are a multitude of rewards programs that encourage customer loyalty. What about the other side of that transaction — the outstanding employee? How well do organizations do when it comes to recognizing and encouraging the best and brightest? Saying “good job” or “well done” is certainly the least that should be done–is it enough?
Read More
Luckily, there are five simple, yet powerful ways to improve rapport with others.
Read More
Benjamin Franklin noted that “Well done is better than well said”. While it may be common knowledge that organizations who have a customer service strategy retain more customers than those who do not, as a “customer” do you sometimes feel that many businesses never received that memo? Has customer service become the final frontier?
Read More
Early in my career I used to think that purpose, vision, and mission statements were basically just corporate catch phrases. They hung on the walls in the office and became the tag line on emails from senior management. Now, keep in mind that I was just a few years out of college and I thought I knew it all! Doesn’t that sound just like your average recent college grad? I understood that it was important to clearly define the organization’s purpose and to have a well written, actionable vision and mission statement.
Read More
Jack Welch said “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” An organization with a clearly articulated purpose, mission and vision will not be derailed by the ‘unimportant urgencies’ and will stay focused on the core business values. For successful businesses, this is the thing that does not change.
Read More
You don’t have to be Michael Jordan or Mia Hamm to have the skills you need to build and lead high performing teams.
When a sports team is working well together, it can feel like magic. We’ve all experienced it, either as a team member or as a fan. Fortunately, you do not have to be Michael Jordan or Mia Hamm to have the skills you need to build and lead high performing teams in your organization.
Read More
Mornings are a mad-cap time in many households. Everyone’s so focused on getting out the door that you can easily lose track of just how much time is passing. I’ve had hundreds of people keep time logs for me over the past few years (you can see some of mine here and here), and I’m always amazed to see gaps of 90 minutes or more between when people wake up and when they start the commute or school car pool.
Read More
In our global economy, teams may often be geographically dispersed. Additionally, by leveraging the power of the Internet and global communications, we now see a lot more ‘teleworking’ and telecommuting by employees. Both of these factors bring a new dynamic to the whole concept of teamwork.
Read More
Many managers believe–wrongly–that inadequate workers choose to perform badly. They surmise that employees could do better if they wished. In reality, the two greatest reasons for nonperformance are that employees do not know what they are supposed to do or do not know how to do it. In most other cases, nonperformance is related to:
Read More
Think of thank-you letters as a self-marketing tool and a critical component of your job-search strategy. The time you invest crafting a targeted thank-you letter after an interview is time well spent, and it will help you create a credible and efficient search.
Read More
We know that trust is absolutely critical to team and project success. It’s always been hard to build and maintain, but when you don’t work in the same physical location it can feel even more difficult. The good news is that we know the three components of trusting teams. The trick is to make them work remotely
Read More
Excellent question, right? Robbins & Judge (2010) define motivation as “the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal”. In other words, what moves us to expend that extra effort to make sure the job gets done? When it comes to organizational performance, there may be times when a higher salary or more time off is not the answer to motivate someone to do more–to meet or exceed organizational objectives.
Read More
Have you thought recently about how tied we are to technology? You wake up in the morning and reach over to turn off your alarm clock which is playing your favorite tune on your IPOD docked to it. Next your reach over to your nightstand and grab the TV remote and scroll through the numerous cable channels trying to decide which station you want to watch. Your cell phone rings and you grab your Bluetooth wireless headset and head into the bathroom to take care of a few morning “necessities”. As you think about what you are going to wear to work you remember that you wanted to be sure and record Oprah and the NCAA Sweet Sixteen game coming on tonight. So you quickly set your DVR to record both programs as you mentally plan to order a pizza on your iPhone on your way home from work tonight.
Read More
There are six critical success factors that must be in place before any group begins to function as a leadership team.
Read More
For our technology issue, let’s borrow that famous phrase from Joan Rivers, and focus on the most ubiquitous device of the 21st century–the cell phone. Seemingly overnight, it has become the single ‘don’t leave home without it’ item to have on the go. And you don’t even have to talk to communicate–you can text or update/check your social media network status. You can use it to stay organized, get informed, get directions–the list goes on! For almost anything you can think of that you might need on the go–there’s an app for that!
Read More
Lesson 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
Read More
What if you could live life without regret from this moment on? Would you want to? Do you think it’s possible? Would you want that? Living a life without regret equates to living a life without limitations, with unlimited potential.
Five things I wish a million people knew about regret.
Read More
The employment market is saturated with various resources for job candidates. While some of them offer consistent advice (always send a cover letter, tailor your resume and wait for the employer to bring up salary), the truth is that conflicting information exists.
Read More
To unify a company’s efforts, CEOs, Department Leaders and Team Leaders must take the time to review the strategic vision and connect it with how their teams are assisting in the achievement of the vision. The best of leaders are able to tie an individual’s performance objective to at least one of the company’s strategic objectives.
Read More
If you spoke with 10 people and ask what prevents them from thinking big, you would probably obtain a list of 50 reasons why they and others should not have big thoughts.
Read More
We need your inputs and opinion, for the March edition of “Based on Your Experience”. The topic for March is “Planning & the Bottom Line”. We’ve incorporated the discussion this month into a survey.
Read More
Ask yourself hard questions. Introspection takes guts. You need to determine how serious your problem is. Should you just wean yourself off evening e-mail, or should you consider a career change? Where are you going in life? What are your priorities? “Lots of creative thinking shows up when the priorities are clear” (Wooldridge, 2010).
Read More
Look at your life in five categories: spiritually, mentally, physically, financially and socially. Examine the goals you have for each of these areas. In order to achieve the balance you need to have a long life, what would you do differently?
Read More
Many of us suffer from a hurry up and get it done mentality. We believe that we can get more done by speeding up everything and multi-tasking on everything. While driving we’re conducting business on our phones, we eat while working on assignments, we listen to our family members while reading email . The list can go on! We have become a “get it all done today” society. Therefore, the question we have to ask is: Are we setting ourselves up for long-term success or long-term problems?
Read More
We need your OPINION, for the February edition of “Based on Your Experience”. The question this month focuses on work-life balance. In about 250 words, please respond to this:
Read More
Make Your Environment Make You Successful
Paul Meyer states that “productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort”. How do you gauge productivity? Is it really doing more with less? Take a look at the following short list of ways to increase/maximize productivity. Which 2-3 do you consider to be most useful? What would you add to the list? What shouldn’t be on the list at all?
Read More
Most find their lives out of balance during the holiday seasons – here is a quick check list to use to rebalance your life.
Read More
Innovation can be defined as “the creation, development, and implementation of a new product, process or service with the goal of improving efficiency, effectiveness or competitive advantage.” How are innovation and change related? Is innovation “natural”? Are we all innovators by nature? What processes/practices/methodologies must be put into place to allow organizations to be innovative–to both adapt to and influence the world?
Read More
Conflict exists when interdependent parties believe that their needs, goals or ideas are incompatible or not being met. Becoming self-aware of how you handle conflict begins your journey toward self-mastery. With self-mastery, you can use established principles to guide your behavior. You will learn to separate people from the problem. One objective in self-mastery is becoming an effective listener; the six levels of listening range from passive listening, which is hardly listening at all, to empathic listening, which is listening with your ears, mind, eyes and heart. Using Van Slyke’s (1999) concept, this month’s tip surrounds self-identifying what type of listener you are:
Read More
Vision is the driving force behind innovation and the creation of new business opportunities, as well as a critical component for organizational change. It can be generalized that many visionary leaders lack the native skills to focus on the details necessary for successful execution.
Read More
As the year is coming to an end and the holiday season is right around the corner, many of you (and your team members) are struggling with maintaining and increasing productivity. Here are some thoughts on maintaining and increasing productivity!
Read More
Susan Smith lost her job on a Friday afternoon. Eleven days later she had a new one. With nearly 1 in 10 people out of work and the typical job search lasting 12 weeks, how did the Dallas based software architect pull it off
Read More
The executive job market intelligence report states that the 21st Century Leader must become more efficient in: company operations, managing plans and objectives, cutting cost, establishing vision and strategy and leading (a CGI addition), managing and developing people.
Read More
