I’ve asked quite a number of leaders whether there is such a thing as work life balance. Almost everyone says no without hesitation. They agree there are times we’re present, we’re grounded, we’re in sync with what matters, and we’re in the zone—feeling all the joyous personal and professional satisfaction we’re looking for. Yet, it’s as though the second we…
Patience. I don’t have a lot of it, though my Mom said I did. And I’d laugh. Sometimes, if you wait, things settle in and handle themselves. Often, I’m not patient enough to allow that kind of magic to happen, but when I do and it works, it appears as a miracle. Deep breaths, kind thoughts and trust in all…
When things aren’t working, you have three choices. You can live with it, end it, or change it. I learned this from Gino Wickman. Complaining about it isn’t going to help, though many people seek new audiences to share the same story, politicking their way through a situation and causing harm to all parties involved. Pausing to sort the facts…
What do you do when someone on your team openly acts poorly during a meeting? Do you talk with them one-on-one to handle it? If so, stop it. Many of us have been taught to handle bad behavior privately, and for the most part, it’s bad teaching. When working with leadership teams, often they’ll describe situations during their team meetings…
What’s your job? It’s a vocation, a way to make money, an expression of your identity, an extension of your talents, an inroad to community, and a source of pride. It can be exhilarating, challenging, exhausting, exciting, fulfilling and excruciating. It can be a source of all things to fill your ego and maintain your identity and it can be…
When you pursue a dream, a future opportunity or a goal, all kinds of concern, worry, and fear can show up. After all, it wouldn’t be a future possibility if you already knew how to do it. Recently, while working with a group of CEOs, one of them declared something big. It was something career and life altering that wasn’t…
Incompletions waste energy. Think about it. When something is unfinished, you ruminate on it. Whether it’s a conversation, a puzzle, a task or a project, your mind and your actions wander back to it over and over thrashing like a computer. Your energy is trapped as is your momentum. When you’re incomplete, you can’t move on. Not fully. Part of…
I was working with a team recently and one member challenged me on single point accountability. She said she disagreed with the concept and their people “share” accountability for getting things done. While this is a great idea, it will always lead to the same outcome. When things are working, it’s a fine concept. What happens when things don’t work…
There are two things that stop most of us: not knowing how and never having done it before. When you watch young children, they don’t approach anything this way. In fact, everything is new and fascinating and exciting. They approach everything with wonder, curiosity, and an exploratory attitude. They have fun while discovering what they don’t know. When did you…
Building and scaling a business is hard work. When you have the right strategy – or “recipe” to follow, the actions you take are more like “ingredients” to enhance what’s happening. I was asked in a recent interview “if there was a magic ‘reset’ button as it relates to starting your business, what systems would you go back and put…
My world is filled with working with leaders daily. Everyone is busy. Everyone. Some of them forget that from time to time. Additionally, they forget “busy” is a choice. We do the things we want to do. That’s it. Saying we’re busy, using it as a shield to hide behind, is shorthand for “not important enough.” You’re not fooling anyone,…