I don’t know how much football or basketball you watch on TV. Maybe it’s a lot. Maybe not much. But all you have to do is watch once or twice and you’ll notice a particular thing that sportscasters do that you don’t see in many other parts of life. They give the audience context in …
It Takes Work To Get Good At Things The other day I wrote about estimating on my other blog. Estimating is the kind of skill that really improves quickly based on the number of mistakes you make – which isn’t like many other things. Imagine being a trapeze artist – making mistakes won’t make you …
Just Because You Do It Well Doesn’t Mean You Have To Do It CONTINUE READING
By now you’ve received tens if not hundreds of emails using terms like “unprecedented,” “extraordinary,” “trying,” and “new normal.” It’s clear that things aren’t normal right now. Not for you. Not for me. And not for the people we lead. Nothing is typical, routine, or normal. So why are we leading people like we always …
Today I’d like to suggest that building extraordinary teams of ordinary people is a better move than creating ordinary teams of extraordinary people. Makes sense, right? Can we start with something I know we can all agree with? No matter what team you assemble, they’re never going to be the absolute best. I mean, maybe …
Building Extraordinary Teams of Ordinary People CONTINUE READING
I don’t know who thought that metaphors weren’t appropriate in the business context, but I’ve heard it enough times that I now hear it in my head every time I’m about to use a metaphor at work. Here’s the thing – as a storyteller who has embraced stories in every part of my life and …
This past weekend I sat on a business panel in front of a couple hundred freelancers, solopreneurs and digital agencies. At one point a person asked about how to handle the challenge where growth was happening in one part of the organization but wasn’t getting matched elsewhere in the organization. An Invalid Assumption The answers …
I have this great piece of art on my wall that says, “Leadership is the art of creating greatness in other people.” I love the art. But if I were to make one change it would be from “creating greatness” to “releasing greatness.” That’s because I don’t normally create the greatness that I see in …
Leadership is the art of releasing greatness in others CONTINUE READING
If someone criticizes you at work and you get all wrapped up in it, letting it fester in your own head, it can cause you to make moves that aren’t smart. If you ignore every piece of feedback you get at work, you can move blindly in wrong directions and make moves that aren’t smart. …
Today I had a conversation with a friend who is dealing with some poor performance at work. As we sat down with cigars, he posed the question that drives this post. How do you deal with poor performance at work? I think we can all agree that each of us is wired differently. Managing staff …
She was good at her job – there was no doubt about it. I was the customer; she was the rep that was going to help me have success with my recent purchase. Looking back, I think the thing that was most curious to me was that this amazing and talented person was doing this …