Good Decisions Build on Each Other
Today's post was originally published here on October 5, 2015. Finally—a fresh topic! Every now and then, rather than just review a topic we covered in class, we’re going to share something that’s been percolating and seems like it might be important. This is one of...
Why Culture Matters
Today's post was originally published here on October 12, 2015. In my twenties I worked as an engineer at General Motors—Oldsmobile to be specific. Working at a car company was pretty cool on many levels. I got to drive all kinds of cool cars that would not go to...
Bring Your Friends to Work Day
Our youngest child finished high school this spring, and one of the West Michigan traditions that we observed was hosting a graduation open house. We actually observed a bunch of them since were invited to the open houses of all her friends! From Memorial Day weekend...
Time to Add Some Value
“Would you rather be overpaid or underpaid?” When Rodger first asked me this question years ago I immediately responded with overpaid. Josh was in grad school and we had just adopted our daughter. There wasn’t much wiggle room in our budget. Turns out that’s the wrong...
A Desire to Understand
In last week’s post, I referred to a simple comment from a client in a coaching session as we talked about the concept of "seeking to understand"—a term coined by Stephen Covey and a critical piece of our Leaning Into Healthy Conflict model. The comment he made went...
Are You Bundling Things You Shouldn’t?
I’ve had a new concept on my mind lately. Some of you know me well enough to know that one of my beliefs is that topics often choose me—I don’t seek them out. This seems to be true with a topic that has been “working on me” over the past several months. The name I’ve...
Leaders Worth Following Are Leaders with Credibility
What gives leaders credibility? Make it personal—what do you believe gives you credibility with your team? How do you know when you have it? Why is it so vitally important? James Kouzes and Barry Posner did a study about ten years ago in which they asked business...
My Red-X, Full of Grace
The last several months have been some of the hardest of my life. How’s that for an opening sentence? I’m going to share some of what’s been going on for me in hopes that it will help you continue your own growth as a leader. Here’s a quick recap of my last few years....
The Five Fingers of Trust
Back when we taught at your team-building retreat we talked about the Eight Characteristics of a Great Team. Can you remember any of the characteristics? (I've listed them all for you at the bottom of this post if you want a reminder.) One of them is trust. When we...
An Unfair Advantage, Part 2
Last week I shared some observations I've noticed over many years of studying leaders regarding what gives some of them an unfair advantage over others. Here's a reminder of what I shared: These leaders don't worry about who gets credit for significant...