If you start reading a lot of business books, you’ll quickly notice that there are common themes and ideas that come up over and over. As an example: Patrick Lencioni writes a lot about the power of vulnerability-based leadership, which is also a central theme in Extreme Ownership (by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin).  And it’s also referenced in Daniel Coyle’s book The Culture Code and pretty much anything written…

Air travel during the best of times can be a drag– but it was especially challenging before Hurricane Michael made landfall.  I recently endured a long, drawn-out delay at an airport in the southeast as the weather put both outbound and inbound flights into a tailspin. I sat in the back row at the gate and watched the stranded passengers booked on the first of three flights to Chicago. The…

“How can I get my team to engage in implementing a new idea?” One of my clients asked that question in frustration recently. He had identified a concept that had revenue-generating, scalable potential, but his excitement wasn’t matched by his team. They pointed out the reasons why his idea wouldn’t work: the company would need a new hire; the idea would change current workflow and processes. My client’s enthusiasm deflated…

“How can I get my team to engage in implementing a new idea?” One of my clients asked that question in frustration recently. He had identified a concept that had revenue-generating, scalable potential, but his excitement wasn’t matched by his team. They pointed out the reasons why his idea wouldn’t work: the company would need a new hire; the idea would change current workflow and processes. My client’s enthusiasm deflated…

“Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is home because she figured out a faster way.” — Jason Fried It’s no surprise that the world is changing. Is it time to start thinking about how we collectively labor? It’s extremely difficult to find great new employees, it’s becoming harder to keep them, and employee engagement continues to be very low (less than…