In the immortal words of Rodney King: Can we all just get along? It would be so easy if it weren’t for the many people with whom we just disagree. How do we influence or lead those folks — when we come from such different places? Are we supposed to be able to? Aren’t some of our differences irreconcilable? I know I have opinions that I’m not willing to budge on; I’m sure you do, too. There are a great number of topics I will NEVER be able to agree with everyone on…but does that mean there’s no hope…

Why is it that ‘accountability’ always has this negative connotation? It seems to always come with the subtext: You better do it right, or else...! The problem with that is it misses the most valuable part of accountability, which is follow-up and follow-through. It’s...

When I worked for a software company called CollegeNet, it was my job to sell scheduling and space management software to colleges and universities and help them overcome the politics of implementation. One university in particular had a homegrown scheduling algorithm...

Welcome to 2020!!! The year of clarity and perfect vision. What are you ready to see more clearly? We’re all faced with the reality that there is more division than ever in our country and we are having a hard time seeing our way out of it. What do you do when faced...

Can you believe it? Here we are again! Sitting on the edge of another New Year! Did 2019 go the way you planned? So what do you have in the works for 2020? Something big?! Survival? More of the same? Something completely different? I’m not asking about resolutions;...

There’s magic in the air. This magic is all around us, so ubiquitous that, like water to a fish, we can easily miss it. We might simply NOT notice it. It shows up in all kinds of forms. Intuition — that feeling in our gut, that small still voice speaking quietly in...

Navigating the “C’s” of leadership and change can be hard, because those C’s are made up of challenges, conflicts, chaos, calamities, complexities, cynicism, cruelty and more. And we’re expected to be the captain of our lives and the lives of others. How do we...

When I ask leaders what they give in their relationships with their team, the answers I most often hear back sound like support, trust, tools, authority to act…things that their position allows them to give. Sometimes, however, the most important thing we can give is...

There’s a pattern I see that shows up everywhere. I’ve seen it in every organization I’ve worked with, and to some degree with every single client. That pattern is this: at some level, we have a tendency to see the negative in a negative situation. That might seem...

Have your employees recovered from the recession? Ten years ago, we were in the middle of the great recession and layoffs were sweeping the nation. It was a grim necessity for thousands of companies that were able to weather the storm. Technically, that recession has...