Bob Dylan got it right in Let’s keep it Between Us: “All we need is honesty, a little humility, and trust” Whether dealing with our families, our employees or with our customers, the story is the same – our character defines us – it defines us in our personal lives and in our lives at
An alligator has found his way into the lake of our Florida neighborhood. It happens occasionally. The last time this happened, some people in our neighborhood stopped running, walking their dogs, riding their bikes, afraid of that alligator. Because we manage with a certain degree of risks, because some influences are less controllable than others,
The Star Wars bar scene A high performing team is an amazing thing. When a leader puts together a strong team, they create an exponential force in their business. When a leader builds their team, they are doing two things. First, they are assuring that the individuals on the team are capable and in the
Good leaders bring all of themselves to the table. Our leadership consists of several facets to focus our team and motivate them to achieve goals. How we do that is a function of our style and our values. I have spoken before of empathetic leadership. The bottom line is that people follow a leader who
When looking at your business and relationships, think of the three Rs: Responsiveness – How responsive we are is something that is completely within our control. We choose to ignore, delay, vacillate; no-one else does that for us. Being responsive means you value the other person. Its an empathetic skill that tells your customer, your
Our company culture tints our view. Our daily business issues, agendas and priorities put us into a mental routine. We view the world, our business, our team, our processes through a filter of routine and familiarity. Do we question enough why we are having a particular meeting…again? Do we question why we are working a
More often than not, we admire toughness in Leadership. I’m a fan of the empathetic leader. Why empathy? I like Frans de Waal’s definition of empathy: “The capacity to (a) be affected by and share the emotional state of another, (b) assess the reasons for the other’s state, and (c) identify with the other,
I recently read a small pamphlet by Michael Josephson, Making Ethical Decisions. “Making ethical decisions requires us to make distinctions between competing choices…the real test of our ethics is whether we are willing to do the right thing even when it is not in our self interest” Its about taking charge of our lives, what
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Respect for others is the foundation of strong relationships. We all know that. And yet, often we treat our coworkers and employees and our customers with a familiarity that negates respect and trust, negates recognition of the value they offer. We dont do it on purpose, we just dont recognize the impact. Often, the longer