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We’re the absolute best at what we do! In the world!
Is that really true? And more importantly, is that what our customers and stakeholders need from us?
It’s good to step back and ask this kind of question periodically, because it’s easy to fall in the trap of trying to be the absolute best at something people don’t really care about.
Read the rest of this entry »The real world never lines up the way you’d like it to. There are always imperfections.
Of course, this is incredibly frustrating – even if you don’t think of yourself as a perfectionist.
This comes to mind because I’m currently working on a yearly budget. And I don’t dream in spreadsheets.
Read the rest of this entry »One of my challenges is being able to constantly flip between the big picture and the detailed picture. And I know others can struggle with this too.
I’ve been neck deep in spreadsheets, which is not exactly my most favorite place to be. And then I get yanked over to dealing with someone who felt ignored. Then over to that email conversation I forgot to reply to yesterday.
Sometimes it feels like I’ve done nothing but look at details.
Read the rest of this entry »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 »Some problems are just a bear to work out. I don’t know about you, but it seems like I can get stuck on them forever. So I avoid, procrastinate, and complain.
Which, of course, is no help at all.
So I’ve developed some approaches which seem to help, at least most of the time.
Read the rest of this entry »I always work with my clients with the objective of a healthy business. Why that word, as opposed to profitable or growing or whatever?
It’s because the word conveys a proper sense of balance and happiness. I’ve seen many cases where the pursuit of profit can result in unhappy employees, disloyal customers, and a burned-out owner.
But we all want health and happiness, right?
Read the rest of this entry »As you call people back to the office, you may have a hard time figuring out how strongly to demand that everyone follows the same rules.
There are so many variables! Nature of job tasks, desire for people to connect face-to-face, costs, sanitizing requirements, and so on.
What it comes down to is this: You want to have enough flexibility so that everyone feels reasonably productive, comfortable and supported.
Read the rest of this entry »I see a lot of businesses struggling with their new model for people working in the office versus from home. This is a significant issue for those who worked so hard last year to suddenly create new approaches.
We’ve now discovered that “calling the troops back” isn’t nearly as simple as we expected.
Part of it is the still-evolving regulations, of course, but that’s minor compared to what workers need and expect from their employers. The difficult truth is that each person is making his or her own unique decision, based on complicated factors that they’ve never had to deal with before:
Read the rest of this entry »I heard the recent report of a Nepali team reaching the summit of K2, the world’s second highest peak, during winter. A magnificent achievement of incredible difficulty!
But, of course, the lurking question is: Why bother?
“Because it’s there”
— George Mallory, 1924, on summiting Everest
Not everything can be measured in quantifiable terms.
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The Values-Based Business 