As you probably know by now there is change afoot at Leadership Turn. Specifically it’s ending, as all good things end, and that means change for me and you.
But that’s good.
As Harold Wilson said, “He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.”
Edwards Deming said it more simply, “It is not necessary to change.  Survival is not mandatory.”
Well, I plan to survive and we sure aren’t dead, so change it is.
When change hits have you noticed how much energy people expend looking for reasons not to change? John Kenneth Galbraith …read more

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

Friday I explained how the Philosophy of ER can help you lead a more satisfying life and achieve more of your goals, especially the big ones. Today I want to share a focus that has helped me bounce back from a variety of things, large, small and even devastating, over the years.
It is the difference between spending large amounts of time and energy arranging your life so nothing can go wrong or trying to fix the people in your world so you won’t be hurt/upset/etc. when they doing whatever as opposed to recognizing that there is nothing you can do …read more

“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

The problem with generational labels is that one size never fits all—they are merely convenient designations.
As with any large group, negative attitudes and actions often get more attention and press than positive ones and I’m no exception.
Leadership’s Future is often about Millennials—their sense of entitlement, expectations, impatience, and the parental intervention that fuels it.
My Millennial friends kid me that I’m ignoring a large number of their demographic, although even they don’t claim that it’s anywhere near a majority.
But they do have a point, so I’m offering up a new term to designate those who are chronologically, but not psychologically, Millennials.
aMillennial, …read more

I’ve written a lot about the problems and difficulties with Gen Y, but I want to make something clear.
Gen Y didn’t raise themselves to feel entitled, require constant praise or expect success for trying their hardest.
Jan left a comment a few weeks ago and I think she speaks for a large number of her generation, “There is a great amount of pressure to earn good grades and gain a GREAT career, as if somehow that is the only way to gain success in our lives. … The present often does not matter, including learning the subject. Students live under this …read more

Last week I had a call from a “Rick,” marketing manager, with what he thought was a unique problem—sadly it’s not as uncommon as you might think.
Short version. “Chris” is one of his top producing marketing people and extremely valuable to the team and the company. Recently, the team had a vehement disagreement on a marketing plan, but finally decided to go with an approach different from the one that Chris had championed.
Since then, Chris has made a number of comments and suggestions that undermine the current effort and has privately said that she hopes it fails because the other …read more

Three great interviews on tap today with lots to learn.Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the embed code to work for either video (the Washington Post and McKinsey may need lessons from YouTube:), but they’re both worth clicking over to watch.
First up is Anne Mulcahy, chairwoman and chief executive of Xerox Corporation, a company that she took over on the brink of extinction and turned around. “In 2002 this company lost almost $300 million, and by 2006 we were making over $1 billion.” Now that’s a turn around!
When asked what the secret was, Mulcahy said, “It isn’t a secret sauce. It’s actually …read more

I was delighted when I was sent a free copy of Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign to review. Not just because I voted for him, but because this is a book about how to sell change, major change, to strangers and in doing so turn them into a community of supporters.
That’s what Apple did with the iPod and that’s what every CEO recognizes as being of paramount importance.
In a post last summer I said, “You must constantly change MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™)—your own, your people’s and your culture’s.
But it’s not just about managing change; it’s about …read more