Creating Hard & Soft in the Executive Space
If people are only showing their best side and real discussions are being replaced with business updates from the team members, the team is missing "soft space opportunities".
Blog
Executive Isolation
When executive leaders feel left out of the information loop or get information just before the train is going to hit the wall, it’s often the result of unintentional patterns by executives themselves that lead to the isolation syndrome
What is Your Executive Agenda?
The executive agenda is not a plan. It is the collective output of your leadership team, as experienced by your key stakeholders. These stakeholders include shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and yes, even competitors.
The Buck Stops Here
In the Fall of 1946, Fred Canfil gave a small sign to President Truman, for his desk. It read: “The Buck Stops Here” Canfil, then United States Marshall and a friend of Truman, had seen the sign at the Federal Reformatory in El Reno, Oklahoma and had one made for…
Nesting in the Executive Team?
Struggling to deliver on your strategy? Lack of urgency in your organization? Watching your competitors do things you’ve thought about but didn’t translate into action? The three questions above address fundamental aspects of business growth. Growth is vital, for if you’re not growing, you’re not succeeding. It’s pleasant to be…
Celebrating an Executive Anniversary
Two out of three executives that step into a new senior position won’t make it to their two year anniversary, according to the Corporate Executive Board, now Gartner. Some of these executives fail spectacularly while the majority quietly struggle. In any case, the effects are devastating to employee engagement and…
Dan’s Summer Reading Recommendations
I realize that the start of the Bavarian school holidays doesn’t signal the beginning of summer holidays for the rest of the world, yet is a gentle reminder that the holiday season (whenever you take it) is a great time to recharge, renew and refresh your personal and professional agenda.…
Going Slow to Go Fast – Lessons from Herbert Blomstedt
“An unlikely lesson learned about strategy and leadership.” Happy birthday, Herbert Blomstedt and thank you. You’re 90 years old this week and gave me a very important seed2lead that I’ve been profiting from and now it’s time to share my learnings from you with others. Let me explain. You were the guest conductor at…
Who’s Doing the Dirty Work In Your Company?
Dave Branam was our next door neighbor, growing up on Main Street in Adel. As a young boy, I used to watch men and women come home from work, (it usually meant supper was soon to be served) and most folks came home looking like they did when they went…
Is Kevin Durant the MVP of Vulnerability?
You don’t have to be a basketball fan to appreciate the beauty of the NBA basketball championships that ended Tuesday evening. First class athletes on both teams, playing the game at an almost unimaginable skill level was really human poetry in motion. As fans from both sides either celebrate (provided you’re…