There are days when my work is easy. Everything in front of me is stuff I’ve done before and I know I’ll be able to knock it out of the park. Those aren’t really the days I remember. Instead, it’s the days that are hard, challenging, that seem to stick in my memory because of …
I once worked at a company where everything you did needed to be put into your calendar. I mean everything. Every meeting. Every appointment. Personal or professional. Your calendar had to be accurate so that anyone else could put an appointment on your calendar for you. It was kind of crazy. And what was hilarious …
Let’s face it, not all problems are alike. There are the kinds of problems that are always understood because you’ve seen them before. They may be ugly, large and painful to navigate – but if you’ve navigated it once, you know what’s in store the second or third time you do it. An example of …
The answer you’re looking for is, “I don’t know.” CONTINUE READING
I don’t know if you ever saw this photo online last week as it made its way across the internet, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it. When you normally see these towels on the shelf, the shape and structure speaks of the thick and plush towels. But seeing the foam behind the …
Just a few minutes ago, the Florida senate rejected a permanent ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. This is after 17 Floridians were recently killed in Parkland. And after the 2016 shooting in Orlando that killed 49 and wounded another 58. Our natural outrage drives us to yell at people. To complain. To …
In January I started learning how to box. I know, at 47, there’s no good reason to start learning something like boxing. But I enjoy the sport and I thought it would be more enjoyable to learn than running for exercise. I’m also a fan of continually putting yourself in a learning posture – it …
Here’s what we know – everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes a failure is our own fault. Sometimes it’s because we were counting on something or someone else. It could be in our control, or not. But one thing is for sure: we all make mistakes. Given that reality, here’s the bigger question: how do you handle …
There are a ton of great articles about the value and benefit of getting rid of jerks within your organization. One of my favorites is, Why Firing Brilliant Assholes Is Required to Build a Great Engineering Culture. Don’t get me wrong. Jerks aren’t fun. They’re not great. They can ruin teams and cultures. But sometimes …
I love how Amazon talks about ownership: Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job”. We’ve all worked with folks who said, “that’s not my job,” and hated …
Every high performing team values ownership CONTINUE READING
It’s a well known fact that magazines use Photoshop to touch up the photos of people to make them look more like they want them to. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying it is what happens. The most recent situation with Vanity Fair was a set of photos that gave Reese Witherspoon three …
Vanity Fair Photoshop Mistakes – will leaders fall into the same trap? CONTINUE READING