Mary Marshall One of my favorite questions to ask leaders when they are unhappy with someone’s performance is “knowing what you know now, would you hire them today?” Usually, the answer is an immediate “no.” Then the harder, follow up question is “so what are you going … Read more
There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal this week reinforcing one of the concepts we teach in the SBA’s Emerging Leaders Course – Customer Lifetime Value. It’s always interesting to me that most small to mid-size companies don’t know what a customer … Read more
Recently, I saw a parent teaching a child how to ride a bike.It made me smile to see both the excitement and fear on the little boy’s face as he said “now don’t let go ‘til I tell you,” and then the joy when he … Read more
Sometimes organizations get lazy. This happens when they have long periods of success and start to take it for granted. They assume that the customers and money will just keep coming in and they stop doing the things that got them to that point in the … Read more
At its core, most of the work I do is about change – why it has to happen, how to move through it, how to lead it and most importantly, how do we come out the other side better than we were before. Humans are … Read more
It’s almost here! I am very pleased to announce that my new book will be arriving at the end of the month – The Great Culture [Dis]Connect. After many years of working and observing organizations whose culture’s “work” and those that don’t, I’ve put together … Read more
“Hire Character. Train Skill.” – Peter Schutz In this hyper-competitive environment where employers are battling for talent, the desire to shortcut the process and make an offer to someone is intense. However, hiring a cultural misfit will end up costing you so much time and money, not … Read more
A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal discussed the rare worker that thrives on negative feedback. The author makes the point that leaders often shy away from giving this feedback, but in fact, it can be motivating for the person receiving it. I’ll agree … Read more
When coaching leaders about “trust,” I often find myself using the phrase “trust but verify.” It turns out to be a good way to hold people accountable as well. It’s the reason KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) exist– to verify and measure that things are getting … Read more
It’s always surprising when you hear a leader talking about some “unexpected” event as if it had just happened out of the blue when all the signs were there for some time. Or a scandal that has been brewing for a while and everyone, except … Read more