Have you ever wanted to be a much better negotiator? To create more effective teams in your company? To communicate much more persuasively in your business and personal life? If you did possess the skills to do those things better, how would your life be better and richer? If you’re interested in how the smartest […]
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Looking Back at You
THE BIOGRAPHIES OF well-known leaders prove something you may have always believed: If you want to know why an adult is the way they are, look at their childhood. That’s exactly what Mark Leibovitch did more than 10 years ago for a Washington Post profile of Steve Case, the reclusive, competitive genius who was then […]
Coaching is a “rough business.” Really?
WIP sports talk radio in Philadelphia this morning played what they said was a comment by Andy Reid, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, in response to two recent firings of NFL head coaches. “It’s a rough business,” he replied. Really? Being a US soldier in Afghanistan is a rough business. Being a police officer […]
If leading is not managing, then what are you doing?
Stephen Covey says you lead people and manage processes. I agree with that. If you’re in a leadership position, the implications are you want to spend as little time managing processes as possible, because your most effective and high-leverage role is leading the ones who are supposed to be managing. Think of it this way: […]
Racing time …
I’m an efficiency nut. I love learning new ways of saving time, shaving time off existing methods and generally doing more with the time I have each day. A few great books I read recently on the subject are David Allen’s book Getting Things Done and Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneuers. Here […]
Onward and Upward
I recall my grandmother saying “onward and upward” to motivate us when I was growing up. The funny thing about memory is that it’s not always precise: my mother claims my grandmother never said it. Like Mark Twain, though, I can remember everything from when I was a kid whether it happened or not, and […]
How I hit the jackpot in Vegas from a poolside lounge chair.
In March 2007 I was in Las Vegas for a series of business strategy meetings with my friend and colleague David Frees. At a poolside meeting at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, I mentioned one area of my business that I thought had huge potential … I just couldn’t figure out how to grow […]
How do you REALLY feel about your customers?
I got a hilarious letter from a bank in the mail yesterday. It was an update on how proud they were about recently emerging from bad financial trouble and how thrilled they were to no longer need government assistance. The very LAST sentence in the letter was, “Finally, we want to thank our clients. We […]
Apologize
There are people in the business world who believe you shouldn’t apologize when you make a mistake. They are generally operating on two silly beliefs: Silly Belief #1: Leaders shouldn’t make mistakes.Silly Belief #2: Apologizing is a sign of weakness.The reality is that EVERYONE makes mistakes. Great leaders admit them, Apologies cement relationships. A critical […]
Is anyone out there listening?
I’m all about listening. And I’ve found that the more I focus on it, the better I do it. I’ve also noticed, as I’m sure you have, too, that the more gadgets we have and are paying attention to, the less attentively and effectively we listen. It’s not uncommon for me to talk with people […]