When You’re Thrown Off Course…
In 1975, Terry Fox, was awarded Athlete of the Year his senior year in his British Columbia, Canada high school. A few months after graduation, he discovered he had a malignant tumor. His leg was amputated four days later. The night before his operation, he read a...
Vision: How It’s Created Is as Important as What It Says
How you create your vision is as important as what it says. Here are stories of two companies that illustrate this important lesson and 5 guidelines for how it's created. The Story of an 11th Hour Turnaround In 1994, Connecticut became the first state to open...
When The Best Techniques Don’t Work
Fresh out of college, with a degree in special education, I was quite excited when I landed my first job as a teacher in an experimental program – a joint venture between New Mexico State University and the public schools. The program was housed on the university...
Set Up Your Team for Success
Do you have a new team or are you starting a new project? Most teams rush into the work of the team without getting clear agreements in the beginning about where they are going or how they want to get there. They wait until they hit a bump in the road, and then are...
Four Views in High Performance Organizations
In our studies of high performance organizations, (organizations that sustain high levels of productivity, profitability and employee satisfaction over time), my colleagues and I found that although these organizations have their own unique and distinct culture, four...
Want To Be a Better Leader? Remove Your Self-Limiting Beliefs
"I'm really tired of all these articles and books telling us what to do to be great leaders. I already know and agree with what they're saying. I should empower my people, take risks, have a vision, deliver results, be accountable, be service-driven, not ego-driven,...
What Brain Science Tells Us: 10 Tips to Prime Your Brain for Success
I appreciated by this video of Irene Becker, first female CEO of a steel company in Canada, where she shared her personal story of great achievements and losses. Her experience uniquely positions her as an expert on the topic of the relationship between happiness and...
Would You Skydive Without a Parachute? How to Delegate With Confidence.
Roger had been working way too much and knew he needed to reprioritize and delegate. But he was nervous about letting go of control and was having difficulty identifying what he could delegate. I was surprised when he mentioned he was going skydiving to celebrate his...
Ten Good Reasons Not To Delegate
A few years ago, Frank, a senior leader, asked if I could run a training program to teach his people how to delegate better. When I asked him what problem the program would solve, he shared his frustration. Frank wanted his team to think together about where they were...
6 Tips to Set Goals That Will Get You Where You Want to Go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEkWmo-i3-A 6 Tips to Set Goals That Will Get You Where You Want to Go. Vision is your destination. Goals are the milestones that mark your journey. They quantify and define the steps you take along the way as you go for the gold medal....
Three Ways to Get the Most Out of Each Moment
Learn from the past, plan for the future, and live in the present. How can you have a vision and live in the present? Shouldn't you live for the future? The problem with living for the future is you lose the opportunity to enjoy each moment. And, the truth is, the...
The Shortest Distance Between What Is and What Could Be
Once your team has created a shared vision, the next step is to assess your current situation. It’s important to have an honest and open discussion about what supports achieving your vision and what impedes you - what’s working and what’s not. This step anchors your...