The Peter Principle: Part II
Last week we talked about the negative effects the Peter Principle can have on organizations. But what about individuals? If you find yourself succeeding at your current job--thriving even--it’s only a matter of time before that offer for promotion comes along. That’s...
Getting Rid of The Peter Principle
According to the Peter Principle, in any given hierarchy an individual will rise to the level of their own incompetence. If promotion is the only way to receive reward, people are likely to step on this land mine of incompetence, even if the promotion is for a job...
Where Does Power Come From?
I wrote this article a few days before the Orlando shooting and it seems more apropos than ever. At a time when I, and so many of us, feel helpless, powerless and at the mercy of so much hate, violence, and fear, it’s a fair question to ask: Where does power come...
Do You Have A Beginner’s Mind?
Many of us in positions of leadership often feel it comes accompanied by an expectation to be right all of the time. But that’s a feeling founded in fear. Leaders who are afraid of being wrong or vulnerable are afraid of losing their power and appearing weak. In other...
Leaders Face People’s Fear
It’s been said that courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in spite of the fear. This being the week of Memorial Day, such words take on many different meanings. All weekend, perhaps because of the holiday, I’ve had the 70’s song from Paper Lace running...
The Sunlight Theory
Do you know how long it takes for sunlight to reach the planet Earth? Even traveling at the remarkable speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second,it takes more than 8 minutes from the time light is released from the sun’s surface to reach our humble planet,...
Every Business Problem is a People Problem
Technology, systems, processes, administration -- they all go through people.And all people come with emotions, with baggage, with reactions and inconsistencies. Put simply, Business is People. Without people, there would be no business and no one for your business to...
The Problem With Sports Analogies
Aren’t sports analogies great? They’re always available--no matter what situation you find yourself in, there's a sports analogy for that. Plus, even if you're not a sports aficionado, you can usually follow along. And it's true, they are particularly useful for...
Divine Dissatisfaction
Note to self: there is a certain beauty, a certain nobility, a certain…“something" in the Divine Dissatisfaction one can find in their work or life. In my striving for perfection and infallibility (is that just me?), it is all too easy to doubt myself when I compare...
The Dangers & Fallacies of “Going It Alone”
I recently met a woman just out of college -- one of those “millennials", I suppose, who was struggling to find a job. She was struggling, but she didn't want any help -- she wanted to do it all on her own. I asked, but she couldn’t really articulate why. Was it some...
