“The task of leadership is to create alignment of strengths to make a systems’ weaknesses irrelevant.” – Peter Drucker When you think about it, no system is perfect. In fact, all are flawed. Yet, when you think about leadership, alignment is the sum of all talents, thoughts, ambitions, insights, beliefs, and behaviors. Your company can only go as fast and…
We can take so much for granted, at least I can. I was with a group recently and two questions were posed from the authors of the book The Business of Race (Gina Greenlee and Margaret H. Greenberg): What is the relevance of race in your business? How do you identify? What’s interesting is that as I sat in lengthy…
Letting go gracefully is an art. It’s not easy to “end” a relationship, a career, or anything else you’ve done long enough to call it habitual. As I work with teams and evaluate my own experience, when something you’ve been committed to is ending as you know it, your feelings compete with your thoughts resulting in complexity. How can you…
When I go to a new restaurant, I have a favorite question I ask of the server which almost always lends to an incredible experience – with the food and the service. After some dialogue and rapport building with the server, I’ll ask them what their favorite menu items are. If they’re aligned with my preferences, I’ll ask them “if…
There are two paths leaders can take. One is a mile wide and an inch deep or an inch wide and a mile deep. Doing a little bit of a lot of things can be exciting, offering a variety of opportunities, like sampling from the buffet table of what could be possible. This approach can be instrumental in learning what…
When opportunities surround you in business and life, it’s tempting to say yes to everything. It can feel like the faucet is open and it’s your turn to take a drink, grab a bucket, and bathe in the abundance. Over time you can lose momentum and become reactive, waiting to respond expecting the opportunities to continue to show up, distracted…
Great leaders do hard things. They know pressure is the price of sitting at that table. When you hesitate and deliberate when it’s time for action, you put your team and your company at risk. That’s not to say leaders should act without thought and doing their due diligence. Where people issues are concerned, our hearts and emotions can sometimes…
Some great thinking went into these questions, and I thought I’d share them. These came from Thrive Global. We’ve been fortunate to be a consistent contributor in their space, so we wanted to offer 5 Daily Gratitude Questions to Ask Yourself Each Night as a precursor for a new offering on the way. Our 30-day Gratitude Challenge e-Book will be…
Transitions are always growth opportunities in action. As I look forward, I know letting go of what’s been a constant, predictable, and consistent source of growth, learning, and joy is part of a necessary transition to get to the next place. I can’t hang onto what I’ve always done and at the same time emerge into where I need to…
Recognizing passion is a gift. When people do what they love, it shows; and it’s contagious. While this is rewarding as an adult it’s even more inspiring to see it in those you love. Our friends next door have a 6-year-old, his name is Edison. Eddy has a passion for Rubik’s Cubes. He doesn’t just solve them quickly (just over…