Leadership
Every March, college basketball in the US takes center stage with a series of conference, regional, and finally national championship tournaments. Typically, following each game there is a quick interview with the winning coach and a player who performed exceptionally well. The interviews generally offer an opportunity to share the joy of the victor and hear some well worn post game cliches.
Sometimes it feels like the players have been watching each others’ interviews as certain terminology begins to be used over and over. My assumption is the players are often repeating what the…
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Leadership
Sports fans often believe they are just one superstar away from fielding a championship team. The same can be true for business executives. Some studies show that the “superstar” software engineer is 10 times more productive than the average one. And it is not uncommon for salespeople to deliver 2-3 times the results of their colleagues. It seems logical to recruit as many highfliers to your organization as possible.
However, some studies have discovered that too much talent can negatively affect performance. A Columbia University study made an important distinction from studying the impact…
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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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