Blog
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
Everything I Needed to Know About Leadership, I Learned… When My Kids Entered Kindergarten
Move over, military. There’s a new leadership development setting in town! For most of the twentieth century, leaders grew up primarily through their military experiences, developing the models, approaches, and skills that would eventually extend to the workplace....
Lean Out
Last week I had the pleasure of participating in a client retreat. After my part of the agenda was complete, I was invited to stay on and enjoy the other speakers. I’ll be honest... I was tempted to hop on the first plane back to the office. But something encouraged...
The One Question to Stop Asking Kids… and Ourselves
Think back to when you were a kid in the presence of adults. I’ll bet I can predict the question you were asked more than any other. What do you want to be when you grow up? From a very early age, I remember the adults around me regularly making this inquiry. For a...
Building the Bench
Just as many organizations begin to feel that they’re stabilizing after a long period of economic uncertainty, they may find themselves facing a new and unexpected challenge: deficient management bench strength. According to the American Management Association’s study...