“How can I be nice when people are so nasty?”  How often have you heard an employee say this or something like this?  It would seem this is one of the biggest challenges to managers trying to influence their people to deliver courtesy and kindness.  How do you get people to be nice when they’re … Continue reading How Can I Be Nice?

I’ve been working lately on pulling together several fundamental principles for making service to others consistently more successful.  As I have researched service and leadership, I have found a dizzying wealth of acronyms, matrices, diagrams, charts, and methodologies, all guaranteeing better performance. The problem is that I have not been able to find simplicity and … Continue reading Six Practices of F.I.E.R.C.E. Service

What is leadership?  Somebody asked me this the other day, and, as usual, I had some trouble answering it as a definition. You see, I put answering this question in a similar bucket as answering the “What is love?” question.  How do you answer, “What is love?”  When a young teen going through the drama … Continue reading What is Leadership?

Do you get angry when you go to the doctor and your appointment is at 10:00 yet the doctor doesn’t see you until 10:40?  In addition, if you miss it, they charge you.  Wow, they can hold you up but charge you if you make a mistake. Whenever I mention this to people, they make … Continue reading Honor My Time

What is one tool that will grow your leadership, and make you a better employee, parent, or spouse?  This is a simple one, it’s your ears…or to be more accurate, listening.  I know you've heard it before but the more time I spend living and breathing, the more it becomes clear that listening is one … Continue reading The Best Tool at Your Disposal

Somebody sent me a picture with the painted line on the side of the road running around a downed tree.  Although it is funny, it is also disturbing.  I first laughed and then started to think about what created the thinking that goes along with “it’s not my job.”  As I ruminated, it occurred to … Continue reading It’s Not My Job

I was out in Hawaii once and the hotel I stayed in made a point of always offering bottled water to you as you left to go about your day.  I then noticed other things like placing umbrellas at doorways when it looked like rain.  What was going on? It’s hot and humid in Maui … Continue reading What’s your bottled water?

What is the first step to being a servant leader?  Well, that is a loaded question.  I think it has a lot to do with how you define service.  If you define it as something close to slavery, then that will not get you very far.  If, however, you define it simply as helping others … Continue reading The First Step to Servant Leadership