The vice president of a multinational technology company faced a challenge: he had a mission-critical project he needed someone on his team to handle. After careful thought and consideration, he approached a direct report who was considered an up-and-comer. This individual had demonstrated potential. The director and potential project lead met. After thoroughly explaining the…
“Measure what you treasure.” “Inspect what you expect.” You’ve heard those phrases before from speakers and consultant-guys like me. They make sense. As leaders we are accountable for the results produced, rather through direct effort or the efforts of others. Unfortunately tracking results isn’t enough. I’ve learned that leadership lesson the hard way. Recently I…
1. You and I know how good we have become, but we don’t have any idea of how good we could be. What great projects are you undertaking in your business? In your life? Many people go through life driving with their dome lights on instead of their headlights. What you have become is important,…
“The power of ideals is incalculable. We see no power in a drop of water. But let it get into a crack in the rock and be turned to ice, and it splits the rock; turned into steam, it drives the pistons of the most powerful engines. Something has happened to it which makes active…
My friend Brian O’Malley lives a life of adventure. Today he is a speaker who shares his experiences as a world traveler, mountain climber and former police officer/fireman/EMT. It’s sobering to learn that he’s been with over 250 people in the final minute of their lives. An important insight, Brian says, is that none of…
I’ve always believed that books could save me. No matter what problem or difficulty I faced, no matter what I wanted to learn, somewhere there was a book that could provide me with the help I needed. Of course, that isn’t exactly true. Ultimately, it’s what you and I do with the ideas that save…
Coming up, as we are, on the official end of summer, I’m probably a little late writing this particular article. I think, however, that this research has implications beyond vacations. According to a survey I ran across these are the biggest vacation mistakes workers make: Took off too little time 43% Kept thinking about work…