35 years of experience as a change agent for companies like Black &

; Decker, American Express, and UPS taught me the relevance of performing a rite of passage  initiative during my Securing Corporate Viability workshop.  Primitive societies appreciate the necessity of ritual when individuals or groups are  transforming from one state to another...

Winston Churchill had illustrious career as a journalist, author, statesman

and politician.  He held a variety of cabinet positions in the British government from 1906 to 1929.  When he was out of office for the ten years that followed, he had time to write and think deeply.  This sabbatical, in his own opinion, prepared him for his role as an allied...

Entering a market when everybody else is cutting back doesn’t make

sense—on the surface.  But Andrew Wright, founder and CEO of Franklin Street Financial, saw opportunity where the competition could see only demise.  His Tampa based company grew in excess of 400% last year.  What Andrew did is less relevant then how he thinks.  The foundation...

The WSJ wrote that Ford, Disney, Wal-mart, Sony, and Honda, experienced

serious difficulty after their charismatic CEOs stepped down.  Steve Job’s exit, may cause a similar transfer malaise at Apple.   Fortune list companies get lots of attention when a head honcho exits, but loss of financial value can be much greater when small to midsize  ...

VISION: the corporate north starExecutives inhibited by industrial-age

In this faster paced era, plans and goals alone are of little value—because they lack the power to change.  Inspirational-leadership is required to overcome employee resistance.  In the face of turbulence and uncertainty, organizations must redirect their long term focus from the business plan to a corporate vision.  Changes in plans experience...

what you believe is where you are goingMuch of the attitudinal and behavioral

dysfunction on shop floors and in our offices is the consequence of conditioning.  Prior to the 60’s, societal discipline came from a code of ethics framed by the constitution—we were a nation of laws. I believe that our historical conformance to the “rule of the law...

Fierce competition, inherent in the “shift-age”, is making innovation

a primary survival factor.  The capacity to create has already started separating the winners from losers.  Effective innovation demands the application of both art and science.  Success depends on being centered between the two.   Effective people and organizations inhabit...

Physiologists call it being ‘centered’ and athletes refer to it as

entering the ‘zone’.  There are other names for this special state of being—where a person or a team thinks, feels, and performs beyond their usual skill level. Inspirational-leadership is what fosters the normalization of breakthrough performances.  With discipline, consistency...

In a past life I interacted with Tom Peters, of In Search of Excellence

fame, during an Achieve promotion.  He and co author Bob Waterman coined a phrase that stuck.  MBWA (management by wandering around), labeled a desirable behavior for senior executives—to get out of the corner office and spontaneously interact with the folks.  Great idea...

On my way to becoming a naturalized American citizen, I dug into writings

of the Founding Fathers. During extensive deliberations, they tapped the thinking of  Cicero, the wisdom Hebrew tradition, and many well-tested principles ensconced in British common law.  America’s constitution and Bill of rights are inspiring yet disciplined.  They...