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I’m sure there must be a Star Trek episode (or two or three) that deals with “leveraging the wisdom of the system.” The phrase is right down its alley. Their concept of everyone’s input having value is in line with the lessons that the show teaches. Nine times out of ten, the crew of the…

“I don’t really want to change who I am,” said one of my clients after I shared input from several people who worked with him. He was a nice guy, an intelligent person who juggled multiple critical priorities and was driven to succeed in any challenge he encountered. This was his brand. Yet there was…

“May I offer you some feedback?” Those words are harmony to some ears and discord to others. Even when you are open to it, their words can trigger—in a nanosecond—a reaction of (imagine a computer voice): DOES NOT COMPUTE!! DOES NOT COMPUTE!! Our brain instantly recognizes the difference with our own self-view, be it subtle…

I’ve written a number of blogs on staying the course because it’s a topic that consistently surfaces with clients. How do you balance the push for agility and innovation with the fact that you need to give things time to work? Coming from a government agency where the Director rotated every three to four years,…

I have changed roles, functions and levels at multiple points in my corporate career. And, most of the time I worked with people whom I previously did not know. I loved that every change came with a significant challenge, so building meaningful relationships was critical. I knew I would not succeed without the partnership and…

When I am not transparent and open with others—whether at home or work—it doesn’t feel right. When others are not seemingly open with me, I tend to feel a little anxious. My father’s ill health has me thinking recently about families and how they communicate. There are families that share just about everything, those that…

A friend told the story of how she sat in her car each morning trying to get the energy to get out and go inside for work. When asked why, she spoke about how everything seemed so hard. She felt beaten down by outdated procedures and processes. She didn’t feel she had the power to…

Over the last few years, there seems to be a new singing competition on every television channel. Even the 2020 finalists in America’s Got Talent – where all types of acts are encouraged – was comprised of 6 singers out of 10 contestants. Interestingly, one of the four non-singing acts won the $1M first prize…

An executive leadership team I supported was entrenched in a conversation about vulnerability. One member said, “I’m not big on being vulnerable, but I do my best to be authentic.” It hit me then: We should always be authentic, and vulnerability should neither be a goal nor something for which we aim. But sometimes, it…

I recently moved to Florida and have a view of the garden from my office. I have been fascinated watching the lizards and geckos running around with amazing speed and changing direction on a dime. Feel familiar? I often felt that way at work – we were constantly changing direction and not staying with anything…