Do you get a lot of spam? Mine is well filtered, but I still have to glance through the junk file to be sure that nothing important was inadvertently caught.
If spam is any guide it seems that Americans sex and meds dominate the American psyche.
Recently I noticed this subject line: Feel 10 years younger in bed today. I’m sure you can guess what product was being hyped.
However, that’s not what hit me and I’ll bet most of you will agree with my reaction—I’d much rather feel 10 years younger out of bed.
Around this time of year I hear from a …read more

Be sure and check out what’s for breakfast with the boss from Hell
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I probably shouldn’t say this, but I do get tired of having managers ask, how to get workers to think/do/work “outside-the-box.”
For decades they’ve been exploring a plethora of business books, articles, seminars, coaching, consulting, discussions, etc., on the subject—some good, some not so good—and are still searching for how to lead their workers out of that dreaded box.
I hear, “How do we get the team to think differently?” “What incentives work best?” “How do we engage our people?”
What I don’t hear is “What do I need to change in me [to make it happen]?”
What annoys is the assumption that the …read more

What would you write if you were allowed just 100 words to describe a future for our world knowing that your description would become reality?
I don’t mean sci-fi technology or sweeping physical changes, but changes to people’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), universal changes that would improve life in any country and overall globally.
Here is mine.
We need to stop putting ideology ahead of success; stop avoiding accountability by citing those whose lead we follow; excusing our own unethical behavior on the basis that others do the same thing; believing that [whatever] is OK because our religion forgives us. We must take …read more

Click to learn what not to do in a meeting
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After considering my recent views on compost as it applies to leadership and culture I want to add another for you to ponder this weekend.
It’s extremely short and I hope you will add your thoughts to my idea.
Life is compost.
You are the composting machine.
From birth to death a myriad of learning and experiences come your way.
The end result is a rich mixture of ideas, attitudes and actions and even a bit of wisdom if the worms and bacteria are especially effective.
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Image credit: Bruce McAdam on Wikipedia Commons

“The past is the present, isn’t it? It’s the future, too.” Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill
I recently ran across this quote; it’s been years since I read the play, but that poignant line, with its message that what has been is and irrevocably will be has always left me feeling depressed and angry.
Depressed because it revokes hope.
Angry because it’s the antithesis of everything I believe.
It proclaims that we, whether individuals, organizations or countries, can’t change; that we are locked on our trajectory with no rudder and an endless supply of fuel.
That thought represents a type of MAP (mindset, …read more

I was sent an advance copy of The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew its Employees into Better People and it’s a great read.
What do you do with a slightly-below-mediocre company that keeps its business going by staying in small markets where its dominance is assured by an almost total lack of competition; a company with little regard for its employees and less for the communities in which it operates?
You bring in a CEO who has a passionate belief that the interaction between customers and frontline associates has the greatest …read more

I love it when readers call me (866.265.7267), even when the caller is irate, as happened yesterday.
“Sue” called because she was extremely upset that I agreed with Dan Erwin’s comment that he raised his kids using the concept of ‘covenants’ as opposed to ’standards’, because covenants can be renegotiated whereas standards are set.
Sue said that no society could function without some kind of absolute rules, the kind that gave continuity, and that if they changed at everyone’s convenience there would be chaos.
My response was that I disagreed with the absolute rules, but agreed with the second part of her premise.
After …read more

To get the most out of this post you need to read the prelude to it. It starts with Becky Robinson’s birthday musings that formed the basis of my post Monday and the comments that led to today’s topic. (Please read them if you haven’t already.)
We hear all the time about ‘living up to our potential’.
I know that every time I didn’t do what someone thought I should, I heard about my potential. It became the club-of-choice used by teachers and family to push me, but I don’t take well to being pushed and my reaction was to dig in …read more