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Execute More. Complain Less.
During the middle of an August heatwave in Phoenix, I started telling my wife and anyone else who would listen that I thought we were “turning a corner.”And it was true. (Even if we LOVED the heat, there was no way it was going to last.)I said this because it was...
Let People Wear the Hat They Want
Sometimes people are expected to wear a lot of hats. That’s totally fine as long as the important hats are, in fact, being worn. The reality is that people will wear the hats that they enjoy and will ignore or neglect the others. Two examples: A team of sales people...
Prime Time Team Makeover
Deion Sanders (aka “Prime Time”) is making news as the coach of the University of Colorado football team. As I understand it, their first win of the season equaled the total wins of last season. (Yes, the Buffs only won one game last year.) Now the team has a new...
Don’t Make your Plans Based on Sensitive People
After a biopsy, the PA at my dermatologist instructed me to keep a band-aid on with Vaseline, but “no Neosporin.” (She was very emphatic about it.) Me: “Why? I have been using it for years. I thought it was a great medicine.” PA: “Some people are sensitive to it.” Me...
Millionaire Casual
“Millionaire casual” – a CEO shared this word with me as the dress code for a resort she had gone to. I like that phrase, but I am not really sure what it means. It reminded me of the “Values” you hear getting thrown around in companies. Excellence. Extreme Ownership....
Get in Over Your Head – with Experts
For my upcoming podcast, a CEO shared his journey to build the oldest and largest handwritten automated note company in the US. His company makes its own robots from 3D printed parts. It uses AI to automate the production and quality control of the cards. It works...
Commit to Make Great Things Happen
People will say they want to be a great leader, build a great company, or have a great career. But why? The obvious answers will include money and satisfaction. And these are great answers. But I feel that is just the beginning. I think the more successful we are, the...
Jesus Bolts: Maintain the Critical Pieces of your Business
A past client recently shared with me the term “Jesus bolts.” He told me that this colorful word describes the bolts that hold a helicopter wing to a rotor motor assembly. Obviously, these are critical connections. Lose this bolt and the whole thing comes down.How...
Choose Big or Be Small
People of substance become so by choosing to be bigger. We all have a choice to live big or live small.Think of it like a grape. A grape and the seeds it contains can either grow (by putting out roots and vines, and producing more fruit) or it can become a raisin —...
CEOs: Add Successes to the Team’s (and Your) Story
As Dr. Jim Loehr writes so eloquently, we are constantly telling a story about ourselves, to ourselves. Great CEOs make sure these are good stories. Each challenge met by you and your team is an opportunity to add to that story. Stories of success are valuable....
Remember: Your Team Believes What it Sees
It was a somewhat funny glitch: my American Airlines app showed a big green “On Time” banner for a flight that was, in fact, delayed an hour. I can read a clock, plus I believed what I was seeing at the gate (gate door closed, flight crew gathered outside, no plane at...
CEOs: Show Up and Stand Out
The kickboxing gym at which I used to train was basically two gyms in one. They had a series of classes for regular people plus they had other classes that were by invitation only. (The by invitation only classes had more than their fair share of “killers.” Several...
The Discipline to Focus
One of my favorite quotes is “Discipline equals freedom” (from Jocko Willink). As a leader you must be disciplined to focus on the few things that will help the team win. Instead of focusing on what is wrong and not working, focus on what must be in place. The former...
Purpose: A Nugget from a Classic
Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" is one of those classics that I have just gotten around to reading. What a gem. While the book in part relates Dr. Frankl's experience in a Nazi concentration camp, the book primarily deals with how we answer the question...
Semantic Bleaching
Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I heard this phrase so I can’t give proper credit. But it’s a cool phrase, right? It basically means taking the meaning out of your words. When I first heard it, I immediately thought about mission, vision, and values. These get...
The Will to Win
Do you play to win? This might seem like a snarky question. It’s not. Of course, you want to win. But some teams just don’t act like they want the results as much as they seem to enjoy getting caught up in the details. Teams can get busy. Crazy busy. But busy doesn’t...
Loser
Ever feel like a loser?You’re not alone. Even very successful people struggle with feeling like they are going to be “found out” to have little or no talent after all.One CEO asked me if they were good enough to participate in a group with other CEOs. (Those other...
CEO Backbone and Backing up the Team
The best #CEOs back up their team. Sometimes that means taking the heat for an error, oversight, or generally underdelivering on expectations with customers. As a young and eager salesperson I once made the mistake of including the name of a strategic partner in...
No Perfect Days, Just Excellent Responses
#CEOs have you ever had one of those days that ended up DRAMATICALLY different from what you expected it would be? You are not alone. The life of a leader can be disconcerting. Key people may leave. Key customers can call up with a major complaint. Major holes can...
Find Your Few
Currently, only a small number of the US population have the habit of regular exercise and staying physically active. But that small number can have a big impact. Their example can encourage others to be more active. Their kids might see their efforts and decide they...
Stay Flexible on HOW
I had just started my gym workout when a guy comes up to me and asked “how many more sets do you have?” My answer of “three of four more” made him pretty grumpy. While he stomped off, I looked around the gym. It’s a BIG gym and was lightly attended given the early...
Listen Up: Feedback Worth Listening To
All feedback is not created equal. Some, as my mentor Alan Weiss, likes to say “is for the giver, not the receiver.” One example was at the gym where a guy tapped me on the shoulder in between a set of squats with some helpful advice on my form. I understood his...
Character Development
Ted Lasso, the popular Apple TV series has ended after three seasons.I think one of the reasons for its popularity is that its characters developed over time. It wasn't just what happened to the characters (the plot), but it was how each of the characters...
So Much Tech. So Little Impact.
Imagine being in a room full of CEOs and business leaders gathered to hear from a presenter. The presenter, wanting to get a feel for opinions in the room asks you to use your phone to read a QR code and go to a site and answer questions related to the topic and see...
The Competition Is Real
In the dark, early mornings, it is tempting to think that all is quiet and peaceful. You might think that at that hour, the world is filled with people still in bed or slowly getting ready to start the day. It’s not. Even at that hour, there are plenty of people...
Opportunity from Adversity
Home Depot success story started when the founders were both fired from their jobs leading a home center store.They could have been bitter and spent years fighting for their lost compensation packages. Instead, they focused their efforts on creating an even better...
Start Now
How quickly do you and your team get after new opportunities? Ever experience analysis paralysis? Procrastination? Here’s my take: Do you have a dream? Start now. Do you have an idea to improve the results you are getting? Start now. Do you have thoughts that, if put...
Enthusiasm
Do you think the level of enthusiasm of you and your teams have on impact on business results? If so, how do you maintain or improve it? Here’s my take: Every day is a fresh new day. And every day can benefit from a good dose of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm will open you up...
Maintain Valuable Connections
My Facebook account recently got compromised and I was notified that my account was immediately and permanently disconnected. So far, it appears that there is no appeal to this decision.Even though I do not use Facebook often, this feels like a big loss. I value...
Massive Culture Action
What steps can you and your senior leadership team take that would take your company culture to another level? I had the pleasure to facilitate a meeting of CEOs that included a presentation from the Chief Culture Officer of a regional private bank of 2,000 employees....
Renew for Excellence
What beneficial habits and mindsets could you and your team bring back (renew again) that would have a positive impact on your results this year? Easter and Springtime are enduring and powerful reminders of the possibilities of RENEWAL. The dictionary defines renewal...
Don’t Aim to Break Even
I was communicating with a volunteer for a non-profit and he shared that his goal for an upcoming fund-raising event was to break even. Oof. If I had hair, I would have started pulling it out. Small thinking drives me nuts. But small thinking is...
Don’t Overcomplicate Motivation
How do you support motivation in your teams? Here’s my suggestion… address: ENJOYMENT, MONEY, and MEANING. Enjoyment: People who enjoy their job 75% or more of the time are 3X more likely to succeed at it. Make sure people are a FIT by looking at the factors that will...
Mix It Up
I love my discipline of listening to podcasts while I work out. The combination gets me fired up, inspired and educated. It’s a GREAT way to start the day. But recently, instead of a podcast, I went back to the music on my phone. It was like having some really good...
Leaders: You and Belgian Farmers vs. Bad Ideas
Recent demonstrations by Belgian farmers against their government’s actions to take away farmland to reduce impact on climate change, reminded me of the importance of being on guard against bad ideas. Certainly, the Belgian farmers feel it might be a bad idea for...
Assessments and Excuses
A contact of a contact reached out on LinkedIn. (I welcome people connecting with me on LinkedIn…you should too!)BUT this person also wanted to break the ice by sharing all his scores from different leadership assessments (Kolbe, Enneagram, Strength Finders, etc.)....
Be in the Dream Business
I read recently about Matija Pecotic, as rising star in tennis. His career is notable because until very recently he was working full-time at a real estate investment firm and competing in tennis on the side. After notching some big wins, he is ready to devote more...
Challenge is its Own Reward
Try this: challenge yourself to do 100 of anything that pushes you. Your challenge could be: 100 burpees 100 sales calls 100 acknowledgments of your team in 21 days …anything that pushes you a bit I write 100s of blog posts every year and have done so for years. My...
Make the Most of Your Opportunity to Lead
This past week, Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for re-election as Mayor of Chicago. This is a remarkable reversal for someone who won in a landslide four years ago. Last time around, she took all 50 wards. The people of Chicago gave her the opportunity to lead and she...
Use What You Have
Resources (money, time, etc.) may be in short supply, but leaders and teams have an unending supply of creativity. Take a look at this little souvenir we got in Cozumel. It’s made from one coconut, which are everywhere across the Caribbean. Hummingbird I have seen...
Success Systems
Do you want to really thrive and the absolutely best leader you can be? Stack the odds in your favor with layers of supportive success systems. The human body has multiple layers of systems in place to keep the body in peak condition. White blood cells protect against...
Make Competition Fuel for Your Success
Years ago I was running with my wife in a 10km race. This is notable because she hated (and continues to hate) running. But she wanted to push herself and try something new. To keep her focused and motivated, I asked her to find someone on the course she thought she...
Be Visible to Drive Engagement and Marketing
After a move to a new neighborhood, we tried out a new dentist. But this new dentist only spoke to me from behind. (One of my big pet peeves for dentists.) She did not take the time to come around and talk to me face to face. I had no clue who she was as a person. The...
Setbacks Set the Stage for Growth
Two years ago, after the Chiefs and Mahomes lost to the Buccaneers and Tom Brady in that season’s Superbowl, I posted my interest in how Mahomes would respond to that loss. Today I am curious about how Jalen Hurts will respond to the Eagles loss to the Chiefs...
Improve Your Key Teams
The Wall Street Journal reported that new union tactics allowed by the NLRB might result in a union at a Nissan plant In Tennessee with only 2% of the workforce voting. Unions do this by focusing very narrowly on specific departments and specialties versus campaigns...
Focus on Your Game
Dutch Blitz is a popular card game that involves matching cards in your hand to what is available on the table. The player who matches the most cards, wins. It moves fast and requires a player to KEEP THEIR HEAD in the middle of a lot of CHAOS. (Caution: While fun, it...
Create Space to Innovate with your Team
Leaders need to create the space for their teams to make meaningful improvements in the business. Two factors need to be addressed to create that space: Showing high openness to ideas Providing effective structure As the chart below indicates, showing openness without...
Cancel the Noise
I love my noise-cancelling headphones. They are great at screening out miscellaneous noises and distracting conversations. They make air travel much more enjoyable because they help me to focus, relax, and be more productive. Helping teams tune out the noise is an...
Plant Seeds of Positivity
My daughter likes to make little origami cranes for people and leave them where they can find them later. It is her way of sharing her positivity and kindness. Her grandmother saves all of them and over the years they nearly fill a drawer. People like to receive these...
Resolve to Keep your Life and Work Tidy this New Year
Japan has the tradition of a deep “spring cleaning” that occurs at the beginning of the New Year. During that time, they clean everything in the house. Every nook and cranny of a typical house is scrubbed, dusted, and refreshed. (Marie Kondo is famous in the US, but...
Invest in In-Person Time
While I have come to love the efficiency of email and remote meetings (Zoom and Teams), there really are some big benefits to being in-person and to which leaders should pay attention. These include: Quick and efficient relationship building. You can give and get a...
3 Success Habit Examples
From the many CEOs I am honored to interact with, I get to see many examples of success habits.Here are three such habits I was reminded of this week:Move fast. One CEO I met, shared that they started their winery in the middle of the pandemic, built up production,...
TYOM: Southwest Airlines
As you may have heard, Southwest Airlines received a lot of criticism for an operational meltdown of epic proportions over the holidays. While it is easy to simply be critical of the failures of others, what lessons might leaders learn from Southwest’s experience? A...
Beyond Comfort Zones: Circle of Competence
Leaders will often hear that they should get out of their comfort zone. Good advice.But if you really want to get better results this year, let's take it a step further.Don’t stay comfortable within your current Circle of Competence.In the world of investing, Charlie...
Top Leaders have the Courage to Change
Our pastor recently recommended people read the Serenity Prayer again. While I am NOT trying to make any theological points here, I thought there is some wisdom that can apply to leaders and business too. If you are not familiar with it, the Serenity Prayer asks for...
Avoid These Common Mistakes
A big part of success is avoiding simple mistakes. For leaders these include, but are not limited, to: Do not hire or partner with those who are not competent nor aligned with you. Do not do anything unethical. Do not waste time (or allow others on the team to waste...
Train your Team to Evaluate Downsides AND Upsides
The big news this week was about a breakthrough in harnessing energy from fusion. While I understand it is early research, I would still like to understand the potential downsides. Every upside has some cost. Every plan involves some difficulty to execute. Fission...
Cupcake Clarity
A bakery in my neighborhood puts a sign on the busy street near their location containing this information: I love their little sign. It illustrates the power of simplicity in communication and decision making.Leaders should always be seeking to improve clarity...
Get the Right People in the Right Roles
I love the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In it, two con men (played by Steve Martin and Michael Caine) make money by pretending to be what they are not. The concept of made for a funny movie. But in real life and the world of business?? …Pretending does not work very...
Ask for the GOOD Ideas
Do you believe in your ability to come up with great ideas for your business? I hope and imagine you do. But a leader’s creativity ought to be supplemented with the creativity of others. While leaders can come up with lots of ideas. They are throttling their business...
Leaders Keep Growing
Everybody loves a good success story; especially if the person started from humble beginnings. A president at Adidas started working in shipping and receiving. A client who is now the owner of a high-end dental practice started her career as an assistant. Another...
Empowerment: Give Your Team Space to Work
“It is like they put a solar panel under a tree.” That was the phrase a CEO used to describe a project that was not living up to its full potential. I think that same phrase can be used to describe what happens when leaders jump in and take too much control. Leaders...
Evaluate Improvements for IMPACT and ROI
Why is your team doing what it is doing? It’s always a good idea to take a step back and evaluate the ROI of activities to improve the business. This is true for suggestions from the team as well as actions enshrined in a strategy document. Why? Three reasons: It...
Create more Wows for a Better Business
When I took my car to have the tires rotated, I removed and held on to my chrome-colored valve covers. I was worried the tire shop would lose them and replace them with the standard black ones. But, to my surprise, they replaced them with valve covers to match the...
Handling Unscheduled Team Member Departures
It is tough enough when a team member’s departure is expected, whether that’s because they were not a fit for the organization or due to a planned departure for new opportunities.But it can feel very personal when it comes as a surprise. Leaders all want to say “it is...
Leaders Define what they Mean to Improve Team Performance
Leaders need to be clear about what they mean if they want to help the team to improve. This includes being specific about the definitions of words. Many words will get tossed around without much thought as to what they actually mean. And a thing cannot be improved if...
Improve Your Business Through Positive People Interactions
While French Polynesia (comprised of stunning islands like Bora Bora, Moorea, and Raiatea) is a beautiful vacation destination, it is the people that make a place special. Beautiful vistas are great, but it is the experiences that we have with the people that really...
Use the Power of SCORES to Align Teams
There are many powerful tools for cultural alignment (purpose, vision, values, mission, etc.), but leaders should never underestimate the power of a WINNING NUMBER to align and energize the team. The crazy scene after the incredible win of the University of Tennessee...
Great Leaders Give the Team Space to Work
“It is like they put a solar panel under a tree.” That was the phrase a CEO used to describe a project that was not living up to its full potential. I think that same phrase can be used to describe what happens when leaders jump in and take too much control. Leaders...
Prepare to Grow Again
It is over-seeding season for the golf course behind our house. The crews are busy with the many horticultural tasks required to get the course in good condition for the winter season. The seeding season is a reminder that it is important to take time to refresh if...
Top Leaders Make it Easier to Win
The downside of streaming video channels is that is some ways they are making it harder for people to see shows in which they might be interested. It seems like every new show requires another subscription. Even some of my Alabama football games were streamed and...
Successful Leaders are Ultra Clear on Roles and Fit
A CEO shared his frustration regarding his organization’s results with this observation: “My leaders need to wear several hats. But the trouble is that they only end up wearing the hats that they like.” There are two things that need to be addressed here: roles and...
Preparing the Team to Change Course
NASA’s recently executed DART experiment was designed to try and shift the course of asteroids that might pose a collision risk to Earth. The idea is to use a small space vehicle flying at very high speed to move a large rock enough to take it off a potentially...
Great Teams Work WITH Leaders and Not Just FOR Them
A colleague asked if I felt I would ever work for a company again. I told him that I have very little interest in working “for” anybody, but I have always enjoyed working “with” others.I don’t think I am alone.When a person feels like they are working FOR someone...
Effective Leaders Hustle More and Hamster Less
Effective leaders love getting lots of things done, and they hate going in circles. So it is good to recognize what kind of “busy” you are. Are you spinning the proverbial hamster wheel or are you hustling and making progress on the things you care about?When leaders...
Don’t Try and Do Everything
If a leader is “doing it all”, then it is likely not being done well. You may have heard of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). In leaders I often see FOLG (Fear of Letting Go). They try and hold on to too much. It’s a big mistake that will hamper the growth of an...
Make Meaningful Connections
“Ready to connect…. ready to connect… ready to connect…” So went the voice prompt from the Wi-Fi home surveillance cameras that Kim was adjusting before a trip. That same message also could serve as a good reminder to leaders: your team is ready (and eager!) to...
Set your Team Up to Win Big
A senior leader of a Fortune 500 company introduced me to the concept of “exit velocity.” In his organization, a team is creating exit velocity when their business unit is performing so well compared to other business units in the organization that it no longer...
Have Standards that Improve Team Results
My nephew was telling me about his manufacturing job and shared the fact that he needs to keep his process within a half millimeter tolerance. I said that sounds like a pretty tight specification for what he was doing. He responded with “The actual spec is...
Take Advantage of your Opportunities
When the team makes the most of a bad situation, it should be considered a real success. Likewise, when a team doesn’t make the best of a good situation, it should be considered a failure. The pandemic was a windfall for many companies. But for some, the ability to...
Keep Your Team Positively Progressing
It’s easy for a team to focus on the negative and all the things that still need to be improved. This can lead to burnout and feeling overwhelmed. Just like there is wisdom in avoiding the trap of deferred happiness (i.e. not being happy until you get that...
Be Positive and Practical
Some of you might remember a radio show called Car Talk with Ray and Tom Magliozzi (aka “Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers”). They dispensed humor and practical car advice for decades on public radio. They were a fun part of my life and helped pass the time on many...
Be the Kind of Leader in Whom People Can Believe
A commercial real estate leader and expert in site selection for companies shared with me the concept of “burning through the market.” Evidently some company jobs are so bad (typically call center jobs) that these companies “burn through” the available market for...
Get in the Millionaire-making Business
John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco Systems, is very proud of the fact that the company created over 10,000 millionaires over the course of his tenure.Lots of people want to be millionaires. I was impressed that Mr. Chambers was excited about his active role in...
Lead Openness to New Ideas
At a CEO round table I facilitate, I asked each leader to rate their organizations on how well they are leveraging recruitment (a critical topic these days) to drive their most important numbers. Most rated themselves fairly high. A few (the minority) were more...
Work with Others and Stay Consistent
My wife surprised me with the suggestion that we should start running in the mornings. I was surprised because she hates running. Plus it was April Fool’s Day. Turns out she wasn’t kidding. So for 21 days we are committed to run a mile each morning. The distance is...
Deliver the News
Leaders are continuously called upon to be great communicators. They must convey decisions, correct behavior, get people back on the same page…the list is endless. There are two dimensions to effective communication: 1) the ability to say what needs to be said and 2)...
Good Old-Fashioned Trust
The current US administration has recently softened its anti-domestic oil stance with the rise in gas prices. But US oil producers have indicated it could take a while to produce enough to make an impact. Some of the reasons for this are practical (ex. it takes time...
Prioritize Results over Process
Phoenix made the national news recently with story about a bunch of baptisms that were declared null and void by the Catholic Church because of the misuse of a pronoun. I will leave the religious analysis to others, but as a regular joe it looks like an example of...
Detach with Love
When we attended a “Nar-Anon” meeting, I expected that we would be getting advice on how to help fix an addict in our life. What we got was advice on how to adapt our own thinking and behavior. (Believe it or not, there is a 12 Step program for those who have loved...
Cut for Time
Many of the streaming services have some incredibly entertaining series. (We loved Acapulco, Ted Lasso, and Ozarks in particular.) Movies from streaming services, on the other hand, seem to be about 20-30 minutes too long. In many cases, the movie would be better with...
Stagflation
Stagflation is the worst of both worlds. With stagflation you get an economy with rising costs, but with little or no growth. A kind of stagflation can occur in organizations too. This can often be seen in government where bureaucracies will bloat, providing the same...
A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action
I think most leaders would agree with my colleague Lee Benson’s observation that having a plan is only 10% of the journey. The rest is the execution. If that’s true, then what are the implications? Let me offer some for your consideration: Make all your next steps...
Good Advice
If we took 20% of the advice that we think would be great for others and applied it to ourselves, we would be at least 100% more effective. Maybe even more. Consider some of the things you have advised others to do (or even in your head thought they should do). For...
Corner man
The corner man (in fact, usually a team of people) supports a fighter (boxer, mixed martial artist, etc.) during a fight. They look out for the fighter, provide coaching tips in between rounds, and offer encouragement. It is a hugely important role. While the winner...
The Power of Voicing Observation
People talk about voicing opinions, but don’t forget the power of voicing observations. Focusing attention on what is really going on is a big part of leadership. If a meeting seems to be going down a rat hole, a leader needs to say so. If the team seems to be talking...
Mentors and Guides Along the Way
Sometimes lost in the shadow of Halloween is All Saints Day. It is meant to be a day of remembrance for those special individuals who made significant contribution or sacrifice for their faith. But there are saints outside of church too. There are special people...
Rule Number 1 for People Investments
Smart people think carefully about where to invest for the BEST returns. This is true for retirement investments and philanthropic investments. It is also true for people investments. The most important rule is to invest in your best. But who are the best? These are...
Own the Process
I recently asked my colleague and expert on process management, Joe Bockerstette, to come talk to a group of manufacturing CEOs. My chief takeaway was this: your organization is perfectly designed to get the results it is producing today. Whether good or bad, the...
Take your “Real Self” to Work Day
At the end of a team building event, the leader of the team got emotional. It was a moving, raw moment. Several days later when we were debriefing and planning next steps, the leader asked me “was that ok?” They were worried that they might have done something wrong....