Leadership
Several years ago, I was asked to speak at a medium size IT company’s 10th anniversary celebration. When I met with the company owners to discuss objectives and possible messaging, they shared frankly their biggest desire was to convince their employees not to leave the company just to make a little bit more money with other IT companies. While that sounded like encouraging people to work harder for less money, they wanted me to help reinforce the message that the company owners cared about the staff and believed they could best reach their potential by staying. Most…
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Leadership
Nobody writes a better business fable than Patrick Lencioni. For over 20 years he has used his gift as a storyteller to share compelling insights on team and organizational dynamics. Whether you need insights into team building, effective meetings, or consulting, he provides practical approaches. His most recent book, The 6 types of Working Genius, continues his contribution to better understand what drives job performance and satisfaction.
The fable Lencioni uses to illustrate his model is based on his own experience which enhances the authenticity of his message. He shares the increasing frustration in…
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Leadership
In the 1999 science fiction comedy, Galaxy Quest, a key plot line revolves around the “Omega 13,” a device allowing the user a 13 second jump to the past to repair a single mistake. When I first watched the movie, I was initially underwhelmed with the benefit offered. How much could you change your life with a 13 second do over? And then I thought about all the harmful accidents that could be prevented or even the opportunity to have never spoken words in anger that seemed to forever change an important relationship.
Yet, when most of us think about…
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Leadership
A favorite question my son likes to ask after we watch a movie is, “which character did you most identify with?” My response is usually based on similarities in age, role, and intent. As I have gotten older, I find myself relating much more to the character serving as a mentor than the younger protagonist making life altering decisions. Being able to see ourselves in the story greatly adds to the enjoyment and engagement of the experience. The inability to relate to the main character can also be a challenge in reading the biography of a historic figure or…
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Leadership
The tease line on the back of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci reads, “He was history’s most creative genius. What secrets can he teach us?” Isaacson applies the same rigorous research to Leonardo’s life that he has to other historic innovators like Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs. When he concludes that Leonardo was one of the few in history to rightfully earn the title of genius, there is little for the reader to dispute as we learn he was so much more just than the creator of the Mona Lisa.
However, Isaacson’s goal is not to…
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