The Peter Principle might be why your leaders keep failing short
I once saw a squirrel try to climb a greased pole. In fact, I see squirrels trying to climb greasy poles all the time. For example, I was recently working with a company that was struggling with a high turnover rate among its managers. As an engagement specialist, they brought me in to fix their […]
Act Your Wage
“You’re being childish for not Acting Your Wage.” I was recently working with a manager who was brilliant, capable, and completely devoted to his team. He was the kind of leader who would roll up his sleeves and do whatever it took to get the job done. But there was one problem: his team was […]
Level 5 Leadership at a Red Cross CPR Training
I didn’t realize how exhausting it was to give CPR. I learned this lesson recently while taking a Red Cross CPR and First Aid certification class. The 30-2 cycle of chest compressions is no joke. It’s like doing pushups while simultaneously trying to remember if you left the stove on – both physically and mentally […]
Don’t Hide Your Scars: How Leaders Can Inspire Hope by Sharing Their Past
The Best Leaders Don’t Just Share Their Successes; They Share Their Scars I was recently keynoting at a university, sharing my story of academic struggles and eventual triumph with a group of students on academic probation. My goal? To inspire them with my journey and offer strategies for turning their academic careers around. After my […]
The Power of Proximity: Why Showing Up Still Matters in a Remote World
Want to get ahead in your career? Get off Zoom and into the office. I was giving a keynote speech to a group of college seniors recently, sharing tips on how to accelerate their careers in today’s increasingly virtual world. But before I gave them my top tip, I offered some perhaps surprising advice: slow […]
The Micromanager’s Trap: Why Great Leaders Let Go
“Your team isn’t bad at brainstorming. They’re just afraid of you.” I was facilitating a quarterly strategy retreat for a new team, something I’ve done countless times before. The manager warned me that his team was terrible at brainstorming new ideas. He said, “My team’s terrible at brainstorming. Don’t be surprised if you don’t get […]
Go Small: The Secret to Driving Retention, Engagement, and Productivity
Stop thinking so big to transform your team’s culture. John Gottman, a leading expert on relationships, found, after decades of research, that successful long-term relationships aren’t built on big, dramatic gestures. Instead, they thrive on what he calls “small things often”—little actions, repeated frequently, that make the other person feel valued and connected. Things like […]
Being The ‘Perfect’ Leader Hurts Your Connection with Your Team
“You’re just so perfect!” He was 100 feet away in an audience of 300, but his words landed with the force of a thunderclap on my heart. For a moment, it felt like he and I were the only two people in the room. What he intended as a compliment hit me more as scathing […]
Not Everyone Has a “Happy Holiday” Coming up: A Leader’s Guide to Holiday Sensitivity
I learned this lesson back in college, during what is usually a celebratory time of year; holiday break. Finals were over, no homework was due, and the campus echoed with cheers of “Happy Holidays!” and “See you next year!” But beneath the festive facade, I realized a harder truth. On the last day of the […]
Why Your Boring Signs Are Sabotaging Your Culture of Connection™
Want to kill your company culture? Hang another boring sign. I never thought the Cryptography Museum in Washington DC would teach me something about building a Culture of Connection™, but they masterfully transformed what is usually a mundane piece of communication into an engaging message that roped me deeper into their world. Museum walls are […]