Leadership Lessons from a Puzzle

Leadership Lessons from a Puzzle

Having some downtime during the holidays, I thought it might be fun to put together a puzzle.  My wife, Susan, is a big puzzle fan, so when I suggested we do one, she was happy to oblige. Next thing I knew, she had brought up six boxes of puzzles—with pieces...
Expectations (and How to Manage Them)

Expectations (and How to Manage Them)

Expectations (and How to Manage Them) Often when I’m coaching a CEO, president or senior partner of a company and they are frustrated about what someone in their organization isn’t doing “correctly,” they will say: “If I were them, I would … “ Then, they go on to say...
Locus of Control

Locus of Control

We’ve all worked with people who, when things go wrong, blame everyone and everything except themselves. “The expectations were too high.” “I wasn’t given enough time (or resources or guidance or margin) to complete the project.” The excuses are endless, so they go on...
Ask the Right Questions

Ask the Right Questions

Smart questions get results. Uninformed questions get you nowhere. Those are two facts that apply in all circumstances—in all areas of life. For instance, we’ve had a streetlight near our house that has not worked for more than two years. One of my best friends...
The Elephant and the Rider

The Elephant and the Rider

Psychologists will tell us—and we all know all too well—that we have two “always-on” parts of our brain—one is the emotional side and the other is the rational side. Both are involved in decision making of all kinds. Both are necessary to establish lasting good...