One of my favorite shows used to be the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. The show centered on a fictional Minnesota town called Lake Wobegon. The motto of the town was "where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." That was said …
Developing Resilience in the Workplace
I was browsing LinkedIn recently and saw an ad for a "Business Resiliency and Crisis Management Consultant" for a large healthcare provider. It discussed enterprise resiliency policies and resiliency strategies for the organization and required a certification and standards. A couple of years back I …
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Company Culture: Will We Know It When We See It?
When companies are interviewing, the better ones not only attempt to ensure that the candidates have the requisite skills for the job, but more importantly, attempt to determine if they would be a good "fit" for the company culture. This issue of "cultural fit" is also very important for the …
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Silence in Communications: 5 Reasons Why Silence Makes You a More Powerful Communicator
The other day I ran into a fellow who is the reluctant president of a board that I'm on. He's an accomplished individual but rather quiet and reserved by nature. I don't think he enjoys his leadership role but I used this chance encounter to ask again about a pending issue for the board to …
Where Do You Get Your Organizational Power?
I was recently discussing a sensitive issue with a client regarding a senior member of his leadership team. The approach my client decided to take was both clever and empathic and avoided straining any relationships along the way. I mentioned to him that I thought he had excellent political …
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“Hate” A Colleague’s Idea? 4 Ways to Keep Your Attitude in Check
I was at an interfaith service recently and a Muslim cleric stated the following: While it feels good to hate what we believe is bad, what is really bad is the hating mind. I thought a lot about that. In today’s politics - national, state, and local - we see a lot of effort to demonize or …
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What I Told the CEO of a $10B Company about Productivity
I met with one of my most admired clients last week and we had an interesting discussion about his efforts to maintain momentum for all the initiatives that he has underway. This is the second company I have worked with "Sam" at and he is currently President and CEO of a firm that is rapidly …
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The Importance of GRIT – My Recent Adventure in the Wild
There is an interesting Ted Talk about Grit, which is defined as having the passion and perseverance to invest in a pursuit of longer term results. The presenter is Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Grit requires stamina to stay with a task or cause. We are …
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How to Deconstruct Resistance to Change – 3 Real Life Scenarios
I recently gave a speech on the subject of "Delivering Results in an Era of Change" to a group of CEOs that are members of the Association Forum of Chicago. This is a 4000 member organization that serves a large number of associations that are headquartered in the area. The overall theme of the …
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When Was Your Last “Mental Health Day”?
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune related the story of how a leader provided a strong affirmation to one of his employees who was taking a day off to "focus on my mental health". This was interesting because the leader was lauded by many for being supportive when one of his staff informed …
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How to Manage a Team Dialogue Constructively
I recently facilitated a meeting with a very successful team of financial advisors who manage client assets in excess of $7 billion. The executive committee of this group has been a client of mine for many years. Two retirements, one recent and one pending, had created friction within the team as …
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Why Won’t Somebody Do Something About…???
How often do you hear this question at work when some issue or concern goes unresolved for an extended period? Procrastination or neglect can often make the resolution of these concerns both time-consuming and expensive; but it happens over and over. With the weather improving here in the Chicago …
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