Take It, Leave It, or Change It

Earlier this week, I was in Chicago leading a Bud to Boss Workshop. During the workshop, I told a story I often tell about a situation in my life where, as a leader of a team, I was confronted with large scale changes that impacted me in ways that I could not change or control. Without going into all the details here, the main point of the story came from a decision I made and I encouraged the other members of my team to make. The decision was to do a “cost-benefit analysis” of our... [Read more]

Some Recommended Reading

What’s Not Happening Today In the last two weeks, I have written so much that I don’t really have the energy, clarity of thought, or focus to come up with something that seems to me like writing about. So, I thought that rather than share my somewhat clouded thoughts, I would pass along some of what I found today as I looked through my RSS feeds. Here are some posts worth reading: And the Wall Came Tumbling Down by Kevin Eikenberry Wonder What’s Really On Their Mind by Kare... [Read more]

Just Do Your Part: Take the Personal Responsibility Pledge

Get ready, this is a bit of a rant. Nothing happened to set me off. There was no “precipitating event” this morning.  This is just a frustration of mine that has been building for some time. Ready? Here goes… Why do we blame other people when we don’t do everything we can do to fix or change a bad situation? Parents blame teachers and teachers blame parents for poor test scores. Managers blame employees and employees blame managers for poor business results. Parents blame... [Read more]

Memorial Day Reflections: Let’s Keep Things In Perspective

My Boat - USS Benjamin Franklin Twenty-one years ago this month I left the U.S. Navy, got married, and began my civilian career. A lot has happened in those twenty-one years. I have moved from South Carolina to New Jersey to Michigan and to Indiana. I have worked in large multi-national corporations, small family-owned businesses, and in my own business. I have become a father. I have faced financial ups and downs. I have experienced health challenges and been with family members through their... [Read more]

If You’ve Got Something To Say, Stand Up and Say It

Earlier this week, I attended the ASTD conference in Chicago. As I worked in the Kevin Eikenberry Group booth, I noticed an interesting dynamic happening at the booths around me. Where someone was willing to stand on a platform and speak, other people were willing to stop and listen. In fact, it looked to me like people were not just willing to listen; they wanted to listen. Likewise, at the booths where people sat and waited for the conference attendees to approach them, nothing happened. So,... [Read more]

Just Be Nice

This week, I traveled to Boston to lead a Bud To Boss Workshop for first time supervisors. On my return trip, I connected with a flight in Chicago. I ran between gates to catch the flight to Indianapolis only to wait at the gate because this flight — like the one I had just taken from Boston to Chicago — was delayed. Upon boarding the plane, I settled into my seat beside a nice young woman who was also connecting on this flight, and I made a comment about the commuter jet we were on not being... [Read more]

Daylight Savings Time Observations: We Tend to Go Negative

As I listened to the the news on both radio and television this Friday, nearly every mention of the switch to Daylight Saving Time brought on some mention of the “loss of one hour” we would experience on Saturday. It seemed that the entire focus during the time change weekend was on the loss. I don’t recall a single person speaking positively about the hour of daylight we would “gain” at the end of the normal business day. Then, I thought back to the switch from Daylight... [Read more]

Why The Health Care Reform Debate Makes Me Sick

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post titled Why You Shouldn’t Take Conflict Resolution Lessons From Politicians. In that post, I listed a number of things common to the political process that are terrible examples of how to behave when you are really trying to solve a problem or resolve a conflict. As I look at the health care reform debate, I see a number of these behaviors in the way the discussion(s) is (are) proceeding. And, frankly, it makes me sick. I am not a doctor, pharmacist, attorney,... [Read more]

Victim or Victor – You Decide

Whose fault is it when you lose? Whose credit is it when you win? In this time of Olympic competition, I wonder about these sorts of questions. Evan Lysacek beats Yevgeny Plushenko by playing the scoring system to its fullest, and he wins. Then Plushenko plays the victim. In my opinion, he lost – end of story. Maybe Plushenko is more daring. Maybe he is the better physical skater. Maybe the scoring system should reward the quad more highly than it does. Maybe the system should be changed to... [Read more]

Decision Making 101 – Check Your Emotions Before You Decide

In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, writes about the impact of our short-term emotions on our long-term decision making. In summary, his research found that we tend to make poor decisions when we have recently experienced a negative emotion. That makes some intuitive sense related to the short-term impact on our decision making. Surprisingly, he also found that we tend to repeat those bad decisions when we are faced with them again... [Read more]

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