I opted out of Klout years ago. Before I was ever listed, ranked, or nominated by Forbes, Huffington Post Tech, The Shorty Awards – before any of that. Before landing a book contract for A World Gone Social. Before winning my first consulting gig for social media strategy, or giving my first keynote on the topic.
Are you with me? Having no score on Klout hasn’t slowed me down in any way.
As technology automates even more work to increase productivity, and as workplace tasks become even more complex, today’s jobs are demanding higher cognitive skills with emphasis being placed on exercising judgement and coping with uncertainty.
In this respect, business leaders, managers and human resources departments are being challenged to identify, hire and reward engaged employees capable of thriving in ever changing and ambiguous environments.
Though small in size, TinyHR is mighty in it’s impact as a young start-up. Located in Seattle, WA founder of...
Do you remember a time in your life when you were down in the dumps? Things got so far away from you, you felt as though you couldn’t live another day? Remember? You felt like you were drowning. It may have been because your workload stressed you out, an important relationship went sour, or your financial affairs got out of control. Lets look at a scenario . . .
During a presentation on product innovation in New York City, I was asked a great question: “What tools do I need to be an innovator?” My answer was simple and for many, surprising: “Your eyes and ears.” Opportunities are all around us. When we take the time to notice them, they can stimulate more creative thoughts within each of us. And I really should have added “feet,” because the day before I had walked 40 Manhattan blocks looking for interesting and outrageous inputs to spur my own innovative thinking. Here are two examples of what I found.
The mainspring of motivation is the belief that something different, perhaps better, is possible. It is that cause that motivational leaders tap into when inspiring others. And from such beliefs habits emerge that perpetuate goodness, possibility, and the desire to do more, to achieve more. Motivational leaders incite action and deepen relationships. The habits of motivational leaders foster a bias for action and connectedness amongst all those fortunate to be inspired by such people.
When companies tell me their workplace culture and trendy furniture build employee engagement, I try to help them see that they’re focusing on the wrong part of the equation. They’re focusing on what, not why. The “what” can reveal a lot about a company, but it’s the “why” that tells you it’s a good company to work with. What factors contribute to the “why” of employee engagement? Here are the top 5 questions I ask business and HR leaders to answer. They’re intentionally written from an employee’s point-of-view. If you answer honestly, your organization’s engagement strengths and weaknesses should become more clear:
During the past two decades of developing leaders and helping organizations thrive, I’ve learned a lot about what great leaders do to succeed in an increasingly complex and interdependent world. Global forces such as disruptive innovation, environmental degradation, population shifts, and stakeholder influence continue to converge to transform how business operates. These challenges require leaders to evolve their capabilities to do more than build profitable organizations; they must also create a better world.
With this landscape in mind, I’ve captured the most critical leadership capabilities in what I refer to as the BOLDEST Leadership Competency model stressing mastery in seven areas…
There is a plethora of articles, books, and blog posts about the need for and benefit of networking. They talk about the benefit to one’s career, being able to learn new ideas and viewpoints that lead to innovative business models, products, services, and impact, connecting people together that wouldn’t normally meet, which can lead to infusing new fresh talent in organizations and to creating a platform for sharing your own ideas and passions. Yet, one of the rarely discussed benefits of networking, perhaps because it’s less tangible, its rewards less apparent and wide-reaching, and its impact less glamorous, is…
As a writer, educator, and lover of learning and life, I make it a habit to notice people. Whether I am in the classroom or in a business, I notice everyone I meet, and I let him or her know it.
You know there’s something wrong with our political system when Congress is less popular than root canals, Nickelback, and traffic jams. Only 9% of Americans view Congress positively. It hasn’t always been this way.
Every company wants to know how they can create and sustain a profitable culture that attracts and retains top talent. Fortunately, there are many companies that are experiencing tremendous growth due to some intentional shifts in culture. If you’re looking to shift gears a bit, here you will find a preview of several best-practice takeaways that can inspire engagement, loyalty, and profitability.
We want to drink the kool-aid, just without the poison. Please.
“I started this company from nothing” “This is the way it’s always been done” “This is not up for discussion” “It’s my way or the highway” “Just do your job and be quiet”
Sound familiar ? Yes I know, not all leaders, owners and CEO’s think and feel this way. Unfortunately, a lot of them still do. This is for you who still do. The ones driven by ego and arrogance. It’s time for a change, my friends.
Positioning, spin, strategic ambiguity – why do so many leaders fail to say what they mean?
Leaders worry that if they say what they really mean…
Someone might panic
The truth will leak
Employees will make bad choices
They’ll become disengaged
Spinning the truth has all of those same side effects, only worse. When humans aren’t told the truth, the stories they concoct to fill in the blanks are far more dramatic than the actual scene.
In my former life as a Navy SEAL, whenever we entered a room into a target, each assaulter trusted the next guy, both in front and in back of him, without hesitation. That is, each team member knew that in order to “clear” a potentially hostile room quickly and render it safe, success resided within the collective trust of each member in the room. We could move only as fast as the slowest guy, so the sum of each member’s competencies was not equal to the whole since we could only move at the speed at which we trusted each other to keep up. Essentially, we could only move at the speed of trust.
To clear the hostile rooms that prevent us from moving ahead in life we must be willing to change. In order to open the door that separates us from the unknown, dividing us between who we are and whom we aspire to be, we must start with trust.
Any approach at transforming a business, be it through lean or any other methodology, is doomed to failure unless it is a people over process approach.
In my chronicle of what went wrong at the company where I worked for nearly 15 years, three process-related changes were implemented that either ignored or overrode employee sensibilities. As a result, each of those changes added to the overall failure of the intended transformation.
This can be a turbulent time, transitioning from college to career or from career to career, and it can be easy to lose track of your sense of self. The small compromises you make to get started can lead to bigger compromises. You can go from wearing a tie every day to laughing at the boss’s jokes to going along with decisions that you don’t agree with. Along the way you slowly break down an innate power and that vital connection between the things you believe and the way that you act.
A people-centric organization emphasizes relationships, connectedness, context, growth, openness, trust and...
