ON MY MIND: Past Experience is Not a Predictor of Future Performance
If you look at the typical resume, 80% of the document’s “real estate” is occupied by a section titled EXPERIENCE, in which job candidates describe their past employers, positions held, and length of service. There’s a reason for this – most employers place a great deal of emphasis on prior job experience when making hiring […]
In My Tool Bag: Expand Your Thinking with (Digital) Images
When teams need to talk about big ideas, complex challenges, or emotions, it can be hard to know where to start. In these cases, words can be inadequate means for getting a team to talk. Among the tools in my travel satchel are markers, post-its, and tape and, also a deck of visual image cards. […]
IN MY TOOLBAG: Stick the Landing: How to Wrap Up Your Meetings for Impact
In the world of gymnastics, the dismount is the last thing a judge sees before determining an athlete’s score. When an athlete concludes their routine with perfection commentators often say that they “stuck the landing!” Too often, leaders bring people together to have important conversations or to make critical decisions but they fail at sticking […]
ON MY MIND: Distributed Teams (Part 1) — Here to Stay
Until recently, remote jobs were a novelty in industries outside of technology. Most of my clients resisted the idea of hiring anyone who couldn’t show up each day at the office. Today, many of those same leaders are asking: “Why do we have these offices?” Before COVID-19 forced more companies to go fully remote, Twenty-six […]
ON MY MIND: Good Work is Not the Same as Hard Work
Ease (noun): The absence of difficulty or effort; simplicity. One day, in later life, I found myself on the acupuncture table exhausted from a thrown out back. As I lay there, I worried about all of the productive work time I was losing. Imetai, my acupuncturist must have sensed my escalating heart rate. He knew […]
ON MY MIND: Back to Meeting Basics with OARRs
I recently walked into a client’s conference room and smiled when I saw this sign on the wall: No Objectives? No Agenda? No Ground Rules? NO MEETING! Most would read this sign and think: “Duh. I already know that.” But, knowing is different than doing. And just doing is different than skillful and conscientious doing. […]
FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Moments of Impact by Chris Ertel and Lisa Kay Solomon
What’s the best way to address complex challenges facing your organization? Bringing smart people together for truly strategic conversations. I know I don’t have to tell you this, but the reason for the reminder is a lament that I often hear from leaders: I thought I did everything right. I put a logical agenda together, […]
ON MY MIND: Focus. I Mean Real Focus.
Yesterday, while soaring at 38,000 feet, I had an epiphany: I can write three blogs on a two-hour flight from Denver to Oakland with ease. But to write those same blogs seated at my desk in my office can take closer to six hours. Why? It didn’t take much analysis to understand why I am […]
IN MY EAR BUDS: Work Life with Adam Grant
If you are not an experienced consumer of podcasts, you might want to give one a try. The podcasts I listen to offer me valuable insights about leadership and collaboration. Most are available as a free subscription via an app on your phone. Thinking about them as an on-demand radio show, I listen to podcasts […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: Meet IRMA — The Impact x Resources Matrix
Have you ever been part of a meeting that produced a terrifyingly long list of new projects and initiatives? As a client of mine recently described such a meeting, “It was an energizing and inspiring conversation right up until the point we realized we were going to have to implement all of these ideas!” Without […]