One of the secrets to human performance is hidden in plain sight. That is, most don’t see it or they ignore it. The amazing part is that it’s free and it works. Here’s the secret: in a given role, people deliver their best performance when they feel valued and respected, no matter what the conditions. [...]
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was the eldest son of President Teddy Roosevelt and Edith Roosevelt. Ted, as he was often called, had served in WWI on the front lines and again in WWII as Brigadier General. He volunteered and was the first general to hit the beach on D-Day even though he was in his mid-50s, [...]
Charisma is to leadership as external stimulants are to getting in shape or winning. A leader's charisma can make the leader – and their followers – feel like things are going great. Sometimes performance IS improved by a charismatic leader – but only temporarily, and not in a sustainable fashion. Followers, like the human body, [...]
Sometimes executives, and other managers, exhibit bad behavior. It happens. Managers are people, too. Occasionally, however, executives are abusive, in the same way that a few people are “abusive personality types.” As I said, managers are people, too. With these abusive types we have come to expect raised voices, outrageous accusations, flushed faces, stern looks, [...]
Once the curtain has been pulled back and we understand that The Wizard is just an ordinary person, the booming voice from the disembodied, intimidating head doesn't work well anymore. There are three management practices that don't work well anymore (if they ever did), yet many pretend that they do. These are pretenses you need to [...]
"Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities, and [...]
Some years ago I was returning from Montreal to Atlanta after a consulting project. The airplane had a scheduled stop in Boston. Prior to our landing the pilot informed the passengers of "terrible" crosswinds at Boston's Logan Airport and that we could expect a "bumpy" landing. Understatement on both points. We survived. This, only after [...]
Thankfully, the balance of the economy is resting quietly, your customers are comfortable with the level of service and quality that you provide, and your competitors are complacent and content with their share of the market. Oh, wait… that’s wrong. The exact opposite is true. Of course things are changing. And quickly. So here’s an [...]
Picture this: your car is stalled beside the road. Luckily, it’s just a dead battery, but there are no jumper cables around. A good Samaritan has offered to “give you a push” so you can get a “push start” for your car. As you get back into your car to shift it into neutral you [...]
In a subtropical forest in Africa a troop of gorillas is in the midst of their daily activities when a twig snaps in the brush. Immediately, all the other gorillas look to the "silverback" – the dominant male gorilla – for direction, protection, and order. They look to the leader for “the meaning” in the [...]
