Want to Kill Young Workers’ Motivation and Drive? Utter These 4 Words
Commencement season is in full bloom. And many organizations are looking forward to an influx of freshly-minted graduates within their ranks. Potential and excitement fill the air. The opportunity to develop, inspire, engage, and grow these new workplace entrants is great. So is the potential to kill their motivation and drive… with just four small words. I met a young man in his mid-20’s recently who shared with me his plans to change jobs. He’d been with his current employer for a couple of years, taking on increasing levels of responsibility. He didn’t mind the additional work without a title …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged competitive advantage, development, effort, Employees, growth, leadership, learning, manager, motivation, responsibility, youth
Where’s Your Bubble?
For years I’ve wanted to take a ceramics class. I remember the satisfying feel of clay in my hands as a kid. And while I’m no Demi Moore, I could envision losing myself in art at a potter’s wheel. So my daughter and I headed out last weekend for an afternoon adventure with Clay, the owner of a studio/school. (Yes, that really is his name; clearly he was born to do this work.) I anticipated the beautiful pieces I would create. I also anticipated hearing something in the instructions that would trigger lyrical metaphors for life and leadership. There should …
Posted in Career Matters, Happiness Matters, Leadership Matters
Tagged happiness, leadership, personality flaw, shortcoming, vision
Beauty, Perceptions, and Feedback
Dove is really ‘cleaning up’ in the media these days. Following up on its controversial ‘real beauty’ campaign of recent years, the company has launched another powerful, media-savvy initiative. The Real Beauty Sketches project is based upon the work of Gil Zamora, a forensic artist tasked with blindly sketching comparative images of women based upon their own descriptions of their facial features and the descriptions of others. In case after case, the illustrations that resulted from the description of a stranger was considerably more attractive than the ones generated by a woman’s own description of herself. The punchline is that …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged beauty, Conversation, Dove, engagement, feedback, Gil Zamora, leader, performance, Real Beauty Sketches, recognition
Unpacking Learning
In a recent SmartBrief blog post, Memo to the CEO: 5 Myths that are Killing Your Talent Development , my friends Jeannie Coyle and Wendy Axelrod provide insightful observations and analysis about talent development that is important to all leaders today. I found my head nodding in agreement paragraph after paragraph… and the gentle nod built to whiplash as I read their fifth key point: [Myth]: New knowledge is the same as learning. [Fact]: Now more than ever, learning isn’t real until you actually do something with the knowledge.” Organizations invest significant resources in training staff members. They offer countless …
Posted in Career Matters, Leadership Matters
Tagged career, coaching mentoring, development experience, Jeannie Coyle, learning development, learning loop, questions, Talent Savvy Manager, unpack learning, Wendy Axelrod
Introverts Rule (Quietly)
For most of my professional life, I’ve admired and envied the extroverted leaders around me. Ahhhh, to demonstrate such confidence, energy, and power. For decades, I believed that at some point – after a lot or professional experience, after having my own business, after working with executives and Fortune 100 companies, after writing a book – I would graduate to that status and express myself in a similar fashion. But after working in this field for 25+ years and accomplishing nearly every goal I’ve set out for myself, I’m still the quiet, behind-the-scenes, reflective, facilitative leader I started out being. …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged extrovert, introvert, Jennifer Kahnweiler, leadership, Quiet Influence
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Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go
When you help employees grow….engagement, retention, productivity, and business results will grow as well.
