Those who know me well have heard me say, “Focus is what we say no to.” I believe wholeheartedly that we move the needle the most when we are intensely focused on one, and only one thing. This is true on both a tactical and a more strategic level. If you want to improve client…
Several months ago, my daughter Catherine decided to play dodgeball during lunch with several students from her seventh-grade class. Knowing she was a stellar athlete, one of the boys in her class chose her to be on his team with his second selection. She beamed with confidence and dominated the game. How do I know?…
Over the past 12 years of my career, I have ruined vacations for nearly an entire generation of my employees. Like it or not, as leaders, people watch, and emulate, what we do. To say the least, my vacation habits have not been the best example. A Journey to Self Awareness Three years ago, my…
Too often, our society pits purpose and profit as opposing forces, as individuals pitch their camp in one of two extremes. On one side, purpose-driven zealots rail at the thought of making money and prioritizing financial results. On the other, greed absorbed corporates scoff at the idea of purpose being more than an idealistic fairy…
mission (and vision and values)When Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, went viral, it fueled the resurgence of the purpose-driven organization. Of course, the best practice in corporate development has long included the development of mission (and vision and values) as a cultural baseline for strategy. But, as the corporate world has…
I spent a good part of last week at one of my favorite conferences of the year — Fortune’s BrainstormTech conference. The conference brings together executives from the Media, Technology and Information Services sectors to discuss the state of the industry and various tech trends. Every year I feel like I come away with new…
Your reputation matters when it comes to deep personalization In a recent article, Fast Company outlined United’s struggle with deep personalization. The author describes the challenge that Linda Jojo, United’s EVP of Technology and Chief Digital Officer, has as she sponsors the development of United’s next-generation app. “We’re actually trying to arm our employees with…
Several years ago I sat with one of my mentors and asked for his advice. He’d been a big-time CEO for several decades, and I felt like all of our conversations were steeped in lessons learned. But this time around, I wanted to know what he considered to be the one piece of wisdom he…
Most of us don’t know how to take a break. Holidays, vacations, and weekends don’t really give us the downtime we need to recharge our batteries, clear our minds and optimize performance. Many of us tend to stay immersed in our work, checking in and staying abreast of what’s going on “back at the office.”…
Email fatigue is one of the most rampant illnesses in America today. It’s a disabling sicknesses that keeps folks continually working and in a state of distraction. It renders folks nearly incapable of deep thinking and rest. It keeps them continually processing the 57 unread and 5324 unarchived emails sitting in their inbox. I know,…
