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It’s real easy for me to get immersed in the details of the day. It makes me feel good to be busy and “productive.”
But I need to spend time getting back to the basics, the big picture. Why? Because it gives perspective to focus on the most important things.
A recent example was an offer I had to do some work for a group who approached me. I love what they do, but it’s also more work for me and I’m cautious about taking on obligations right now.
Read the rest of this entry »When Damar Hamlin was injured in the Monday football game last week, it reset our thinking about who these players are and how much we demand of them.
It was hard for us to see everything suddenly stop – for minutes, then for an hour, and then the game was indefinitely postponed.
This brought to mind other challenging situations I’ve seen over the course of my career. Many years ago I observed that all it took was to tell my boss that “I have a family emergency” and all of a sudden all other priorities dropped.
Read the rest of this entry »This is the time of year when all your business newsletters are telling you to create a plan for the coming year. Which is perfect if you have a baseline to build from.
But what do you do when all your assumptions have been blown to shreds in the last two years? Regulations are constantly changing. Supply chains are massively broken. Employees are unreliable. Whole industries are restructuring.
Your foundation, my friends, is much deeper than that.
It’s a great idea to ask for feedback from your employees. It’s part of letting them know you care, and want to improve.
So you gather up your courage and ask people for feedback, both one-on-one and as a group.
But here’s the hard part: showing them that you’re taking action. Why is that crucial?
Because it tells them about your honesty and integrity.
Read the rest of this entry »I’m involved with several organizations for which this is the beginning of the new year. Not on the traditional calendar, but in the way we think and plan and organize.
January 1st is just an arbitrary date, right?
So now might be a good time – as good as any – to make some decisions.
Recently I had a chance to connect with the Fort Collins Chamber’s Talent Summit, which focused on the 2021 emphasis of workers returning to the office. There were a number of golden nuggets that I’ll explore in the coming weeks.
McKinsey has done a big study on Return To Work, and discovered that 29% of employees would consider switching employers if required to return to the office full time. That’s a stunning number, something we couldn’t have predicted a year ago.
If this transition is mismanaged, you could easily lose over a quarter of your workforce. And probably the most valuable workers, since they have the greatest mobility to other companies.
Read the rest of this entry »As we roll into a new year, we have an opportunity to look at things with fresh eyes. Of course we all know that there’s little that’s actually special just because it turned to January, so it’s mostly a mental game we play with ourselves.
But mental games matter – a lot!
And because we’re all going through this experience together, momentum tends to grow at a faster rate. So it’s time to take advantage of this
Read the rest of this entry »Sometimes it’s better to wipe the slate clean.
Not that you’re ACTUALLY going to do that most of the time. This is a mental exercise, intended to open up possibilities and get your imagination going again.
Usually we take actions based on current relationships, current priorities, and what’s happening right now. Which is fine – stuff needs to get done. But you may never get to planning for a better future.
Read the rest of this entry »Many of my readers are really struggling right now. Loss of work, lack of direction, confusion.
I had a chance to coach someone recently who was sensing this quite profoundly. Confined to his house, without work prospects, he’s finding it hard to move forward in any useful direction.
But here’s the thing: he’s actually been given a gift.
Read the rest of this entry »Leading in business is about planning. Creating plans, executing plans, and monitoring progress against those plans.
Here’s the problem: creating plans is about the future, then everything after that is about living in the past.
When are we ever in the present? Here’s why that’s important:
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The Values-Based Business 