Build a great company on a powerful foundation!
They’re that wonderful customer. You’ve worked with them for years, but now they’re gone.
This has happened to my clients on occasion, and it really hurts. It can shake them to their foundation if they let it.
Here’s how I’ve helped pull them back from the ledge.
Read the rest of this entry »You’ve probably heard the stories by now. An employee just chooses to disappear one day without a trace. No contact at all.
It doesn’t really matter where this phenomenon came from. What matters is what it tells you about your organization. And yes, it really hurts.
There are a few reasons why someone would do this to you:
Read the rest of this entry »Like most people, my values have changed quite slowly during my life. I can identify a few distinct places where values shifted – like when I graduated from college – but it’s not common.
As I’ve aged, I’ve become clearer about what my values are – but it’s more about learning who I am, not becoming a different person.
When you’re looking to hire great people, this is a critical observation.
Read the rest of this entry »I can get stuck in planning things, and perhaps you can as well. It’s a way to attempt to control risk.
It builds your confidence to make a decision and start moving. At least you hope it does.But here’s the secret: The confidence actually comes after achieving something. Even if you can envision something, it’s not really confidence. It’s hope.
Read the rest of this entry »The absence of job dissatisfaction is not satisfaction, much less engagement.
That was a powerful conclusion from the research of Fredrick Herzberg back in the middle of the last century, and it is certainly true today. It’s a fundamental principle of how we engage employees and others who work for us.
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Do you have the whole world figured out? I sure don’t.
There are days when I’m not sure I understand anything.
That’s where it pays to be curious. Like a child.
Read the rest of this entry »Being driven by ethical values can seem a bit lonely.
After all, the world seems to be screaming at us to focus on making money. The money is great, it’s absolutely necessary. But what about making an impact?
Since you’re still reading this, I assume you’re one of the ones who wants to positively influence the community, world, and society through your business.
Read the rest of this entry »The world just changed its axis. Did you feel it?
Last week, 181 of the country’s biggest CEOs — representing 15 million employees and $7 trillion in revenues — came together to refute one of the core principles of business for the last fifty years.
That was Milton Friedman’s 1970 paper, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. In it, he expanded that title to declare that there was no other responsibility of business than to return profits to its shareholders. Everything else — customers, employees, societal change — must be in service to the shareholders.
Read the rest of this entry »In the past weeks, I’ve taken us through the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world. And I’ve introduced another VUCA to help us navigate: Values, Uplift, Commitment, Action.
The problem is that we might think of “times of change” as individual events. Our objective is to survive each change, then get back to “normal.”
Unfortunately, “normal” is now Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Always uncomfortable.
Read the rest of this entry »Several weeks ago I started by talking about what it means to be a leader in a VUCA world. That’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Something we can all relate to.
I’ve replaced the letters with four key principles which help us to navigate through this instability. V was Values, U was Uplift, C was Commitment, now A is … Action.
Because it’s all just good theory and interesting discussion if it doesn’t turn into action.
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The Values-Based Business 