Ramblings From a Glass Half Full
“I know plenty of heroes, but I am certainly not one” – Major Dick Winters, commander, Easy Company, 101st Airborne division, World War II These words are from a man who led his “Band of Brothers” from the D-Day landings to the German Surrender, bravely and selflessly. He was often out-manned …
There’s nothing more gut wrenching for a leader than screwing up, but there’s something far worse out there – the consequences of screwing up, if it isn’t handled it the right way. What do I mean by that? A situation where we just can’t bring ourselves to concede that a mistake was made in the first …
You’ve worked hard to build the right team. You’ve put in a lot of hours process-building, training, goal-setting, and motivating. But the wheels still aren’t turning. Productivity is lagging. Something’s wrong. There’s an undercurrent of dissatisfaction that is palpable. So you try pushing harder – and it only gets worse. Key members of your team start leaving. You …
When I was in the cable business as an SVP of Operations, I oversaw over 1,100 employees- not a “small” company by too many definitions (unless you are in the Fortune 500). And yet, our company was always able to “act small”, and provide great personal service to our customers, which gave us a big strategic …
When doing business, is there value in a positive human interaction, no matter the purpose of that interaction? And does it make a measurable difference in a customer’s loyalty to a good or service? For the first 18 years of my career in the cable TV business, I believed the answer to both of those …
It’s there. Unless you destroy it. By how you lead. In virtually every workplace, among those who serve the customers, or make the widgets, or support those who do either of these things, is a strong desire to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. I call it the “Pride Principle”. Humans have a propensity to take …
Building a great team around you is one of those leadership skills that can make or break you. It’s one thing to get all the “right people on the bus” (to steal a Jim Collins phrase), but it’s quite another to get the team to create an unstoppable collective force that can achieve greatness. Unfortunately, sometimes …
I had my leadership epiphany reading a dictionary. Yep, a good old Webster’s Dictionary. I used to have a bound version at my side at all times – back before the Internet and Google. I loved to look up words I didn’t know. Back when I was struggling to find my ultimate path and purpose, I tried …
This past weekend I co-hosted our annual gathering of 150 business practitioners and aspiring entrepreneurs in Chicago, SOBCon (“SOB” stands for Successful Online Business). The theme of this year’s conference was “The New Leadership and Loyalty Business”, and in my presentation and work session, I spoke about a leadership “model” that can be used by leaders …
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