Your personal coping patterns are a highly specialized combination of

There is mounting evidence that developing traits and interests that were evident during your early childhood play a key role in  adult success and satisfaction.  This process builds on natural strengths.  Greeks called a person’s unique pattern of success a daimon.  Romans referred to it as one’s genius.  Following this line of reasoning...

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...

Before learning, we must unlearn by letting go of previously held knowledge

and assumptions.  Unlearning is a form of death. Throughout our lives we must  “die” many times in order to grow.  One of the more traumatic human transitions is going through what parents call the terrible-twos. Until the age of two, human babies feel omnipotent—assuming...

After eliminating work oriented travel, I decided to join a community

group as a volunteer.  Online research identified a local cause that held  personal interest for me and where I felt my experience might be an asset.  The initial phone call was promising—everybody I talked to cared deeply.  Unfortunately,  enthusiasm and caring was all they...

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...

During tough economic times, new and less competent CEOs frequently resist

cutting back at the beginning of a downturn. Their rationale for resisting ranges from wishful thinking (things will soon improve) to a misguided attitude of paternalism towards surplus employees ( who have become redundant).  CEOs who cut back ahead of the curve manage...

Many companies are trying to get and retain customers using an outdated

playbook.   The dominant factors determining corporate success cross traditional departmental functions.  Sales, service, and profit engage the entire company—there is no logical argument for the preservation of independent organizational silos.  Success is determined by...

Like an expert jazz group, successful small companies can create beautiful

music because a limited number of players are motivated by the founder’s vision. They know the team’s strengths and limitations, cover for each other, are experts at; shooting from the hip, changing direction on the fly, and multi-tasking.  In short, they will do whatever...

Culture can be defined as a collective set of habits used by a group to

get things done. You’ve had experience breaking a personal habit—imagine how tough it is to break an unwanted  corporate habit.  Yet, many CEOs begin culture change initiatives with a “so it is written, so it is done” expectation.  Successful culture change (like breaking...

Most executives use metrics related to the output of group(s) reporting

directly or indirectly to their direct reports to assess the performance of each subordinate (what a poor choice of words).  For example the VP of sales is typically measured on sales numbers.  At first glance, this common practice makes sense, but using bottom line numbers exclusively...