No More P Words, Please
Many years ago while working with the officers of a successful Fortune 500 company, during a break in a strategy session, Dan, the president requested of me half-jokingly, “no more ‘p’ words, Jesse.” I had never heard that term before. “What are ‘p’ words?” I asked....
A Mosaic of Musings on Vision and Leadership
Now that I’ve been blogging for a couple of months, I decided to try an experiment: to list some of my favorite statements from my articles and books, and instead of discussing them, let them speak for themselves. You might think they don’t make any sense out of...
6 Guidelines to Create a Personal Vision For the Life You Really Want
Why hasn’t my life turned out the way I planned? Twice in one week I heard this exact same question. Both times I was surprised because each woman seemed quite accomplished. Michelle's warm personality and infectious laugh attracts a lot of friends. She has a loving...
5 Tips to Ensure Your Values Unify Your Team, Not Divide It
It was quite a blow-up. Laura and Will each accused the other of violating one of the team’s core values - integrity. They each felt they had honored the value and the other person had disregarded it. People sure get mad when they feel someone has trampled on their...
Time for Spring Cleaning: Clean Up Your Values
It’s springtime in New England. The trees are beginning to bud and soon it will be time for my teenage son to start mowing the lawn again. I need to find a new tree service company. I fired my old one last summer. My son mows our lawn every week. The tree service...
Are You Taking Your Team to the Moon? What’s Next?
The year was 1961. President Kennedy announced the United States would land a man on the moon and return him safely before the end of the decade. He painted an audacious picture, considering NASA had not yet invented the necessary technology. Ten years later, through...
Creating an Online Community
Creating an Online Community What happens when you care deeply about something and have knowledge that can help others? Many people write a book on the topic, hoping to extend their reach. What happens when you want to go beyond the reach of your book? You can start...
What Images Are You Shaping Our Future With?
On a daily basis we are bombarded with images of destruction in movies, on television and even in electronic games that children play. In contrast, there are so few images of what peace looks like.
When I ask people to describe what world peace looks like, they use vague terms. However, they are able to give quite vivid descriptions of what a post-World War III would look like.
We must actively seek out positive images or our sense of reality will be unbalanced.
Nelson Mandela understood the power of creating a unifying positive image. Arrested in 1962 for his role in…
When Leaders Don’t Lead
“The senior leaders have no vision,” he said glumly, as an explanation for his company's problems. I had heard this many times during my interviews of key employees at the company. It was the end of my last interview. I set my pen down and asked the question I had...
Boiled Frogs and Dreams
Did you ever wake up, look in the mirror and ask yourself, “How did I get off-track?” My client Sam, head of buying for a large retail company, recently confided to me, “I’m working way too hard and spending too much time doing things I don’t enjoy. When I first...
The Power of Picture: 7 Tips to Create Your Picture
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” ~ Walt Disney These are not simply encouraging words. Disney knew that when you create a picture in your mind, tremendous power is released. My first experience with the “power of picture” took place in a fifth grade classroom...
Help Your Team Get Unstuck: Ask What Business Are You Really In?
Mary Parker Follett, a pioneering business consultant, was asked to help a troubled window shade company. The company’s thinking was narrow and limited. When asked to define their business, they said, “We produce window shades.” She asked them “What business are...