My wife and I recently had a wonderful trip to Costa Rica. The driver who took us back to the airport to fly home was an articulate, well-informed, 50-year-old man. We started to talk about the economy, Costa Rican society, and the government, and he painted a bleak picture of decline that I was unaware […]
Recent news from Ukraine is that four top Russian generals were killed on the battlefield. The story goes on to identify this sad but unique fact because of the top-down leadership style that Russia still hews to. Only “the big guys” are smart enough to make the tough decisions so they must be on the […]
After returning from a recent trip, I called my wife from the airport to see if she wanted to get dinner. She’d already eaten and said the fridge was bare, so I decided to use my monthly “grease and salt” ration and stop at a drive-thru. I pulled into the burger joint drive-thru with three […]
The phrase “I serve at the pleasure of …” annoys me. It’s used most often in the political realm, such as, “I serve at the pleasure of the president” (most often uttered when someone is about to get fired). Any leader who asserts that “you serve at my pleasure” may be factually correct but is […]
Most of my recent conversations with clients and other CEOs have been dominated by discussions about labor shortages. (Supply chain is a close second.) I’ll bet that everyone reading this has been affected in small or perhaps large measure. Whether it is your favorite restaurant cutting hours, your home-remodel project stuck in purgatory or your […]
Some recent interaction with a large medical provider left me with appreciation for great care, but also questions around their operating practices (e.g., scheduling and follow up calls). Questions like, “Why don’t they fix this?” (You and I know the answer; it’s not a priority!) If I had several glitches in service, imagine how many […]
As companies struggle to figure out their optimal work environment, I’ve observed numerous “workplace pundits” (funny how many have never run an organization!) suggest that if one person is unwilling or unable to attend a face-to-face work event, then everyone should adopt a less-desirable option (e.g., Zoom or phone). What?! This is not only dumb […]
I have a growing sense of alarm that the workplace solutions being established in many companies, perhaps yours, lack complete thoughts around the unintended consequences. (See Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 3, Exhibit 4 and Exhibit 5 for starters.) My greatest concern for burdened CEOs — who’ve had to improvise a lot over the past […]
I frequently watch family members whom I love avoid conflict and, paradoxically, increase their stress level. Unresolved conflict is like an unpaid bill. It doesn’t go away; it gets bigger the longer you ignore it and eventually causes immense pain. I coach senior executives, who you might assume are assertive and enjoy — or are […]
When I work with executive teams on increasing their effectiveness, one of exercises we do is to identify the “rules of engagement” so that there is clarity about how people interact with each other. Some examples of rules are: > Be prepared for all meetings > All meetings must have an agenda and clear objectives […]