Leaders only get into the leadership business for one of two reasons. One, for their own ego, or two, to benefit others. The ego is a strong lure, and being thrust into a position of what looks like power can be like an aphrodisiac. Resist it. Ego leaders inevitably fail because the good people see … Continue reading Why do you want to lead? Your answer makes the difference.

The Titanic broke no laws. They had 20 lifeboats and the British law at the time stated that ocean liners were only required to have 16. Problem: the lifeboats only accommodated about 66 people which means the Titanic, with a complement of 2200, was ill-equipped to save everyone. “But they broke no laws!” – tell … Continue reading Ethical or legal. What’s enough?

Profit as an indicator of success. I am amazed at how dumb this is. More profit is easy. Just cut corners or costs. Ethical or not, do it, and you’ll have higher profits. Do you feel successful now? I hope not. But so many businesses do just exactly those things and then tout how successful … Continue reading Profit as a success measure. Not for my money.

Metrics, scores, numbers, they rule so much of our lives. The problem is that unless you are playing a sport or game with defined rules as to the length of the game and the criteria for winning, metrics are just that, metrics, and they can only track progress or regress, not winning or losing. In … Continue reading Metrics. Boon or bane? It’s all in how they’re used.

Do you want customers to love your company? Do you want your employees to love it too? Of course you do, but do you really? Do you really want them to LOVE it or do you use the word “love” as just a quaint colloquial term that’s really just a slightly more dramatic version of … Continue reading Book Review: Love Is Just Damn Good Business by Steve Farber

Standards. The word brings up thoughts of rules, regulations, and inflexibility. We need standards though. They can bring fairness. Think of rules in a game. They can bring consistency. Think of your favorite ice cream. They can help us behave. Think of norms for a meeting. However, they can be used for evil. Standards can … Continue reading Standards. Wisdom should be one.

When we talk about building better workplaces, many people think it is about turning everything on its head and starting a revolution. And while that might get quick results, there is usually a lot of damage in the wake so I am not a proponent of that thinking. A better way is to start an … Continue reading Better workplaces require evolution, not revolution.

One thing that I often encounter when talking about coaching is the thought that to coach, you must be an expert. That is not necessarily the case. It depends on your objective. If you are trying to “coach” people on how to do something, you will largely need to have expertise in the subject. However, … Continue reading Can I coach if I’m not an expert?

Haters. These are the people who just have to, as the great cliché says, “find a problem in every solution.” It’s easy to be afraid of haters. It’s also easy to want to fight haters. I was listening to a great podcast with Seth Godin (you can catch it here … https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jacob-morgan/the-future-of-work-podcast/e/57192943) and he gives … Continue reading Haters. Let them go.

We all dream of doing great things and then doubt ourselves or begin talking ourselves out of it because changing the world is just out of reach. We see these great people on TV or the internet or in books who have done all of these amazing things. They’ve raised inordinate amounts of money, they’ve … Continue reading Don’t give up. We need you.