There it is: the blank screen. Staring at you. Mocking you. Daring you to write something that will actually be read. Daring you to write something that will be taken seriously and acted upon. It may be an email, a report, a letter, a blog post, or any one of a dozen forms of written […]
Read MoreI’m standing atop a tall building. We walked past the “Danger” and “No Public Access” signs—written in red with big, bold letters—ignoring them like playground children. My feet feel the hard edge of the rooftop line, below me open air. “Trust me, just jump,” words whisper in my ear. “Trust me …” And then I […]
Read MoreWe’re sitting in the third waiting room of the day. The first was not like a waiting room at all. Its high ceilings, ceramic tile floor, and overstuffed chairs felt more like the foyer of a fancy hotel than the entranceway of a hospital. The second waiting room, with a sign marked “Radiology” hanging above […]
Read MoreI just unwrapped the cellophane from a brand new Moleskine journal. I get a thrill every time I break open a new notebook, move the tassel to page one, and embark on filling its 240 acid-free pages. This is Moleskine journal Volume 21, the other 20 five-inch by eight-inch volumes line my shelf like soldiers […]
Read MoreI know it’s a disgusting image, but it’s an apt metaphor for effective leadership. Sneezing. If you’ve ever been sneezed on with the full force of spittle in your face, you may not be able to keep reading this post. But please–trust me–the point is powerful. This sudden expulsion of air, traveling at a rate […]
Read MoreIt’s the technology we love to hate, but can’t live without: our smartphone. That’s the conclusion an MIT research study reached about the personal impact of inventions in the last century. The smartphone handily beat out the alarm clock, the television, and email. Do you agree? As amazing as our smartphones are—with apps for doing […]
Read MoreI’ve never met a business leader who’d actually say, “Oh no, metrics don’t matter to me.” Have you? I didn’t think so. So why ask the question, “Do your metrics matter?” Because I’ve found the way most business leaders operate is like they’re practical atheists when it comes to metrics. I know, I know that’s […]
Read MoreBusy, busy, busy, busy, busy. That’s the one word that describes the life of every business leader I know. That’s the word that probably describes your life as well. It’s the reality of the 24/7/365 world in which we live. We can’t stop it, but we can control it. We can master it. In fact, […]
Read MoreAll coaching is not the same. I know this because I tried to make it all the same and fell flat on my face. When I first began working with executive leaders one-on-one, I had an assembly line approach to the process and found it to be extremely ineffective. Then I wised up. One of […]
Read MoreIn an act of unimaginable stupidity, I signed up to run the half-marathon last year on the first Sunday of October. For those of you who do not know me well, I took up the sport of long distance running at the ripe age of 53. Since that time, I’ve run in lots of 5K […]
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