Let Go of Control But Keep Responsibility
Last week I had the honor and pleasure of co-chairing the Berrett-Koehler Authors Cooperative annual retreat, attended by over 70 people – ranging in age from 25 to 83, and enriched with authors from Slovenia, Singapore and Australia. Each year I look forward...
5 Questions That Will Help You Be a Better Leader
Do you think you’re an effective leader? Feedback is one good way to find out, especially through “360 feedback." But there’s another, equally powerful way. Take a serious look at your beliefs - your “assumed truths” about yourself, others and how the world works....
3 Tips to Quickly Onboard New Employees
Mark was upbeat at the end of his first day at his new job as a programmer for a small tech company. He was shown around, introduced to his coworkers, and given a desk and a computer. He had spent most of the day alone and settling in, which was fine with him. A few...
5 Ways to Use Discomfort to Be More Effective as a Leader
I am honored to host this guest post by Marcia Reynolds, author of The Discomfort Zone: Mastering the Art of Turning Difficult Conversations into Breakthroughs, As a leader, there will be times when the people you lead or coach get stuck when dealing with difficult...
Mindfulness in the Workplace Is More than Meditation
In a recent Huffington Post article, Ford Motor Company chairman Bill Ford and former Google.org director Larry Brilliant are described as "business leaders who advocate mindfulness." The article then goes on to list ten executives who meditate regularly. It's easy to...
Could You Be Off Course Without Knowing It?
You’re clear about where you want to go. You made your plans. You’ve started on your journey. Maybe you landed your dream job, or found your soulmate, or have a vision for how you can make a difference in the world. So now, you simply need to focus on execution - on...
Craft Workplace Inspiration With an Organizational Constitution
Guest post by S. Chris Edmonds How is your team or department performing today? I’ll bet you think you know how your team is performing. Most likely you have dashboards that indicate production, error rates, profitability, sales, market share, and more. You probably...
The Art of Hosting Meaningful Meetings
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone thanked you at the end of the meeting and told you how glad they were to have been there? How likely is that to happen? A recent study found that for the second year in a row, workers reported meetings as "the biggest distraction and...
Forget the Bus! Develop Talent to Create a Fast, Nimble Fleet
Organizations need people who know what they're doing, where they're going, and have the skills to get there. We call that "talent." Unfortunately, there's a common misbelief that the best way to get talent is to buy it - not build it - by ranking everyone,...
The New Rules of the Social Age
Guest Post by Ted Coiné, Co-author A World Gone Social What used to seem very good leadership practices in the Industrial Age was good, or at least efficient. But the Industrial Age is over. And it’s not coming back. It’s the Social Age now, and it will be for quite...
Social Media Has Redefined Breaking News – For Me Forever
We moved from New England to the San Francisco Bay Area in the end of July. Three weeks later, I was awakened in the middle of the night by the largest earthquake in 25 years. It felt like the house was right next to a train track and a train was going by. The...
How to Identify Team Values that Unify and Guide Your Team
When you agree on your team values, you increase trust and create a language for more effectively working together. Values are deeply held beliefs about what is right and good and evoke standards that you care deeply about. They drive your behaviors and decisions....