A Primer on Loss and Grief for Leaders
If you are running a company of any size, you hear about some relative or friend of your workforce dying almost every day. In even the smallest company, there is loss all around your employees. Loss you don’t see, and I am about to make you aware of. [...]

I just arrived back home after delivering a breakout session on brainpower for Communicatiion ‘10, The District 7 Toastmasters Spring Conference at eh Oregon Convention Center. Because the introductory keynote ran a bit over, I had to cut our session short, so thought it would be helpful to post an outline for you, since we did rather race to [...]

Those of you who know me know I don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t take drugs, don’t usually eat meat, work out on a regular basis, love hiking, used to be a ballet dancer, ran marathons, love yoga and Pilates, and so on.  At one place they used to call me the “Tofu Queen”, and for about 15 [...]

In my last post I talked about disengagement.  Let’s continue the discussion, first, by giving you a “state of the people” address.  Then let’s look at some actions you can take to proactively position yourself for the next battle:
Some things you should know:  

According to a recent study by the Washington-based Corporate Executive Board, 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 [...]

As leaders, how can we promote and encourage our workforce to stay productive in these crazy and stressful times? Stress is defined as a general and non-specific response to a “threat”.  That response to a threat frequently appears in the form of fear, disengagement, diminished cognitive ability, lack of creativity, loss of emotional control, fatigue, and eventually chronic pain and illness. The source of [...]

You are a passenger on an airplane.  You look out the window of the place and the wing is on fire.  The oxygen masks drop down.  The flight attendants make an announcement that the pilot is going to have to make a crash landing on water.  You hear yelling: “Brace…Brace”.  People around you are starting [...]

SECRET……The dictionary tells us that a secret (noun) is something that is kept hidden or concealed.
 
Most of us have been exposed to the tremendously successful movie and/or the book called “The Secret”, which contains knowledge that has been around for thousands of years, and it was packaged in an intriguing and ingenious way to attract [...]

We have serious global environmental challenges to face,  an estimated 100 million homeless people worldwide, drugs devastating our communities everywhere, the US Financial Crisis weighing heavily on the global economy, countries at war, including our own, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
You have a company to run, a board of directors meeting to [...]

You are probably familiar with this poem. In today’s business climate you need the personal edge more than ever:
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well [...]