We all get really busy and many of you are like me: you don’t watch a lot of tv, you’ve had your head buried in the 2010 budget or other planning, and all of a sudden you hear that today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day?   Let me just quickly bring you up to date [...]

This topic is not as random as it might seem at first blush. My executive clients tend to be movers and shakers and global leaders.  Almost every successful person I know has a cause that is close to the heart. My cause is abolition of modern-day slavery.  On January 4th, President Obama declared January 2010 National [...]

Finally! We’re starting to study the neuroscience behind  altruism and generosity, charity and empathy, and other positive emotions. How does it affect the brain, as opposed to other things we have studied, such as fight or flight responses, and addictions, etc. Check out this recent press release  http://tinyurl.com/yh2t8f2
Often when I bring up the topic of emotional [...]

     One of the ways to increase excitement and engagement in the ranks is to raise people’s self-worth.  In this economy, a lot of charities have been hit really hard, and need awareness, funds, attention, and volunteers.  Check out what one young Portland woman started just recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw   It’s called the Pink Glove Dance.  How [...]

Every day another business management or leadership book comes out and every day you are wondering how to best leverage your existing workforce.  We read about the top ten CEOs, what we “should” be doing to best manage our people, and we are overwhelmed with quotes and advice from all the top leadership ”gurus”. Just for a moment, let’s STOP.  Take [...]

 
For many years we have been studying leadership, and it is the topic of development courses, books, workshops, keynote speeches, blogs, and so forth.  Are leaders born or made?  Who are our best examples of leadership?  Is good leadership different today than twenty years ago? Who was a better leader: Lincoln or Patton?
 
We read the [...]

Yesterday I was on a conference call with Dr. Izzy Justice, one of the global gurus on the topic of emotional intelligence (EQ).  He had two expert executives, Leticia Knowles, of American Express, and Steve Larson, of Wells Fargo, (formerly Wachovia), to share their expertise in how to make our workplaces more emotionally safe.  This [...]

             To plan: to arrange a method or scheme beforehand for (any work, enterprise, or proceeding):
Sounds like too much work, sounds boring, sounds slow.  Let’s just get on with the show…..that’s what most entrepreneurs say.  You’d be surprised how many people actually run small businesses without a written plan. For instance, he was good at [...]

 
It’s early Monday morning and I’m looking at my schedule for today.  All the typical things are fighting for my attention and need to be completed:  yoga, devotions, coaching sessions, proposal submissions, a keynote speech prepared, a power point presentation created, list of people called, copy reviewed, part of a chapter written for the book, thinking and reviewing [...]

Talent Management
 
These last 12 months or so have really been tough on your managers.  Just think for a moment about what they have been watching on tv, hearing from their neighbors, and worrying about at work. Some work forces are completely exhausted right now. They have been cutting budgets, having to let people go, taking [...]