If you were in charge of your corporate culture and knew it needed fixing, would you fix it? Certainly anyone in charge of change management would want to say yes to this question, but as anyone who is actually in charge of corporate culture knows, it’s harder than it looks. I like to think of...
Managers can read books, get trained, practice and plan, and still your employee may toss you something you don't anticipate. But you can handle it. The key is asking good questions and really listening. When you give feedback, you are a role model. They will eventually hear you in their head, and...
With the number of devices, apps and websites we use to communicate with each other—in life and in the office—it seems easier than ever to screw up even the most innocuous message. This tech-infused reality seems to go hand-in-hand with complaints about the tech savvy, particularly the millennial...
My son is applying* to a military academy and as you might imagine, our household has been full of discussions about military issues and approaches to things of late. In working with clients recently, I realized that one of the military’s greatest leadership principles I was opining on with my son...
As we approach summer, I'm reminded of the family road trip. The kind with screaming kids, barking dogs and parents hoping they don't harm one of those screaming kids. The family road trip seems an apt analogy to end this month's theme of preserving your mental health with emotional...
It's counter-intuitive that if we don't think we are biased, we probably are! But when you realize that bias is natural and that we all have it, then it makes sense that being aware of your bias is the best way to counter-act it. We love this advice from Dana on how to think about bias and work to...
Have you ever taken Karate? I took two classes, not enough to retain any physical benefit, but I learned one thing I still keep with me 30 years later: when we take advantage of natural forces to create change, change happens more smoothly and comfortably. Research out of Harvard may just hold the...
According to the Harvard Business Review article, “The Neuroscience of Trust” leaders intuitively understand that a lack of employee engagement is detrimental to achieving business objectives. But they’re often stymied for ways to address this problem. The author of the article, neuroeconomist...
Throughout my career I’ve had experiences with government, nonprofit and corporate cultures, and I’ve noticed a leadership pattern in all three that leaders can learn from. Consensus means different things to different people. Be brave. Do Your Job. Don’t take the ”easy” path. The word consensus...
What does pro-employee even mean? You may interpret the phrase “pro-employee” any number of ways. It could be about being on the list of top companies to work for. Maybe it’s about working effectively with unions or being union-free. It could be about benefits, vacation time, flexible work hours,...
