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

Did you know that as nimble as an ordinary bat is when flying it can’t take off from a level place?
If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and painfully until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then it takes off like a flash.
That’s also a good description of what happens to workers who aren’t given what they need to succeed.
Whether it’s coherent instructions, correct and complete information, additional training, viable feedback, or something else, without it they struggle to survive, let …read more

People hate reviews, but done correctly reviews are a terrific tool to provide individual attention, improve retention and show your love—tention reviews as opposed to tension reviews.
I won’t bother explaining the latter; everybody has suffered through a tension review at least once in their life and probably far more.
The biggest difference between the two is in the level of communication and frequency.
Done correctly tention reviews happen constantly and are called feedback. Think of them as a manager’s response to the “how am I doing” sign implicit on every member of their team.
We all crave feedback, which includes

sincere strokes (given publicly),
constructive …read more

Honing “CEO skills” isn’t just for CEOs—it’s for every manager who wants to do a better job and every employee who wants to be promoted.
Sure, you may not know as much, or have access to, the same information as the boss, but don’t let that stop you.
It’s similar to managing a fantasy sports team, you know all the easy information and a little research usually gives you a lot more with which to work.
You can make it even more interesting and fun by recruiting colleagues to choose other companies to shadow and compete.
Whatever level you’re at, you may know a …read more

Last Monday and Tuesday I hit a nerve when I described leadership as fertilizer and went on to say that the composted kind was better than that produced in a lab.
So today I went looking for good quotes about fertilizer. I only found two really good ones, especially the one from Rick Pitino
Since there aren’t more, I thought I’d invite you to make up you own. Read the posts (if you haven’t already) and share your fertilizer quotes in comments.
“Fertilizer does no good in a heap, but a little spread around works miracles all over.” –Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Failure is good. …read more

Continuing with more thoughts on yesterday’s post Leadership Is Fertilizer.
Fertilizer is produced in a lab with scientists controlling which chemicals in what amount are used and then mass produce that particular formula in a factory.
Anyone who gardens knows that there are a multitude of brands that produce different fertilizers, some considered “general purpose,” but most with specific formulas to accomplish specific goals, including forcing growth.
Experts say compost is a better choice.
Compost is natural, produced when multiple kinds of organic matter are brought together and left to decompose with the aid of a variety of organisms. The result is an incredibly …read more

To thrive in today’s world companies need to constantly innovate; innovation requires initiative; initiative is another word for leadership.
Because initiative and leadership are synonymous, leadership needs to be pushed out of the corner office and spread throughout the organization; doing so will encourage growth, creativity and innovation.
If leadership is the fertilizer then culture is the water, without which nothing will grow, and people are the seeds from which ideas come.
By spreading leadership evenly through out your company garden and watering regularly, leaving no unfertilized or dry patches in which a seed will be stunted or die, you assure yourself a …read more

You may be a tweeting guru, but can you sum up your life, career or tell a story in just six (real) words?
When challenged to tell a story in six words, Ernest Hemingway came up with “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”
Starting in 2006, Smith Magazine challenged readers to write their memoirs in six words and the effort is still going strong. Here are three examples from the Smith site,
Ecstatic, elastic, eccentric, electric, ever-changing existence!
Dreams diverted; life proceeds. Embracing detours.
Lesser people would’ve given up already.
I wrote Birth, death, fun and happiness in-between because that’s always what I wanted and …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

Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: lusi
This is the second in a series discussing whether Warren Bennis’ 13 differences between leaders and managers still holds in light of today’s modern workforce.
The manager maintains; the leader develops.
In today’s global economy the company that only maintains fails. And I think that applies to every part of a company—department, group, team. If the person in charge merely maintains, but doesn’t improve the parts and processes of the organization it will be passed by. Moreover, today’s workforce demands professional growth and challenge; the manger who doesn’t know how or spend the effort developing …read more