One of the pitfalls of playing to your strengths is a tendency we all have of dialing in our performance when the activity involves a personal strength.
One of the definitions of a strength is the way you automatically fall into a rhythm of the activity. You’re a natural. You take to certain things like a […]
I’ve been noodling with some numbers related to the value of employees participating in Strengths training. What is the real payback?
When a manager asks,
“What’s the business reason for doing this?”
how do I answer?
Thoughts:
The training I provide helps people focus more intentionally on using their unique strengths to improve personal performance. So let’s imagine […]
When I follow the rules, the process may not always be as fun but the results are usually better.
I learned this while baking cinnamon rolls: There are times when “leaving well enough alone” is the best approach. Good cooks know when they have the achieved that “just right” taste – and so should managers when […]
I watched a flock of generic birds wandering about the sky. They were sparrows or starlings or some other type of ubiquitous small bird, flying about in the most haphazard manner; the entire flock darting first one direction and instantly another. There didn’t appear to be reason to their route, no plan.
Then for just a […]
Do we have it wrong about attitude?
[powerpress]
As I watched my hometown team win its first-ever World Series it struck me how all the players credited their “will to win” and that very little was said about actual skill. Team members lined up to talk about “heart” and “perseverance.” One ebullient player said about the other […]
Note: This piece was first published in December 2006. With the recent LOST finale, I thought you might find relevance in a flash back to the show’s early years.
I am always blown away by the presenters at EPM Communication’s annual Entertainment Marketing Conference, […]
Pity the lowly manager.
We have a preponderant preoccupation with leaders, leadership and leading these days.
I did a quick Google search and found 30,200,000 pages mentioning “great leaders” and half that many for “great managers.”
We worship leaders and tolerate managers. Leaders are followed (often blindly) while managers are obeyed. Leaders […]
The latest edition of Counter Intelligence is available.
This month I explore a practice the ancient Greeks knew as “akrasia” – or as we call these days “square peg in a round hole.”
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We’ve grown comfortable with automatic decisions and snap judgments. Making quick decisions is so much a part of our culture that we need a tool to help slow down our minds so we can actually think.