Great teams get big things done. They grow companies, invent new products, and they serve customers with enthusiasm and excellence. Team dynamics are much different today than in the past due to digital communications, dispersed team members, and member variability. But team success still hinges on some core fundamentals. Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen outlined …
With laptops, tablets, and smartphones seemingly never more than a few inches from our noses, the art of conversation is a skill that’s gotten more difficult to practice. The digital distractions around us make it harder to listen, engage, and participate as fully as we should. Melissa Daimler is head of global learning and organizational …
Honoring those who have died in the service of our country is a tradition that was first recognized as a federal holiday in May 1868. Memorial Day allows us to pause, reflect, and give thanks for sacrifices made in the name of freedom. In his famous inauguration speech of January 1961, President Kennedy touched on service and …
Jeffrey Gitomer can be uncomfortably blunt and even course sometimes, but I’m a fan nonetheless of his energetic writing and speaking style. I recently grabbed his 2007 book “Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude” off the shelf in my office and started to go through it again. It’s a fun and helpful tour through the differences …
To-do lists can be motivating and overwhelming at the same time. Making them is easy, but achieving them can be an unpleasant and disheartening experience. This love/hate sensation is because to-do lists are usually a mix of thrilling, fun, boring and scary action items. Booking vacations, shopping for a new outfit, and getting a massage are …
Tara Mohr’s book “Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create and Lead” is about the tools she’s used with thousands of women to help them take big steps forward in their lives and careers. Mohr maintains that some women feel they aren’t ready to take on that next bigger role. The inner critic can be …
Selling is essential, and sales are the lifeblood of any company. Good selling solves problems, propels markets and builds value. But I’ve never been a big fan of terms like “closing a sale” or being “a closer.” Closing sounds restrictive, excessively dominant, and single-sided. Instead of “closing” I like to think about “earning” a sale. …
Turning things upside down is always a good exercise for expanding and freshening your outlook, and Dan Pink is one of the best at this exercise. In his Flip Manifesto, Pink talks about popular advice that he’s found to be “Not wrong as in a ‘little bit off’ or ‘not quite right.’ But just plain wrong-flatly, …
Every day, we all crave clarity, whether we know it or not. At home, at work, at play, we’re constantly looking for help in what to think, say, and do. Clarity leads to better understanding, knowing more, confidently committing, and then doing exactly what’s needed. Patrick Lencioni has turned the pursuit of clarity it into …
If you’ve ever found yourself in meetings gone awry with digressions and detours, this next tip might just save you some time and aggravation. Bob Frisch and Cary Greene are partners in the Strategic Offsites Group and are co-authors of “Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting & Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your …
