Edith Onderick-Harvey wrote in Harvard Business Review about five behaviors of leaders who embrace change. Her premise is that 70 to 90% of mergers and acquisitions fail to meet their objectives often due to leader’s reluctance to change. Since change is happening rapidly everywhere, let’s discuss these five behaviors. The first behavior is to share a compelling, clear purpose. Have […]

As long as work is to be done by people, there will be workplace conflicts.  We can work to avoid conflicts, or we can embrace conflicts as they arise. Here are several ideas on managing conflicts. Conflicts will occur, be ready for them. Being part of a team does not eliminate conflicts. Establish lines of communication to deal with conflicts. […]

According to Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” one of the first businessmen to be paid $1 million per year was Charles Schwab. Andrew Carnegie hired Schwab in 1921 to lead the United States Steel Company. When Schwab was asked why Carnegie paid him such an abnormally high salary he shared his secret to success. Schwab said, […]

In 1776, our Founding Fathers grounded their argument for independence from Great Britain in their declaration “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” They may have declared their independence from Britain, but at the same time they were noting their interdependence upon their Creator. Many people break away from employers […]

Neal Jeffrey is a stutterer, but also a tremendous athlete. He became a quarterback for the San Diego Chargers. Because of his football success Neal receives many requests to speak publicly. Initially, Neal tried to cover-up his handicap. Then one day his wife said, “Why don’t you quit torturing yourself and proclaim that you stutter, then make some jokes about […]

Former NFL quarterback, Neal Jeffrey, is a stutterer. When he tried to call a play in his early football days, his speech often would become stuck, resulting in delay of game penalties. Neal’s coach came up with a creative solution. One of Neal’s teammates began calling the plays in the huddle for Neal and the fullback would call out the […]

Jim was a new Athletic Director at a university that was building a new stadium. Jim lined-up an appointment with a past donor to the school, known to be a crusty oil and gas executive. Jim charged in with an aggressive pitch and boldly pronounced, “We need you to give us $1 million!” This executive said, “Who in the world […]

Years ago, when my wife, Kathy, and I purchased furniture for the office, Kathy typically started to assemble it using her instincts. My role usually came when we discovered leftover pieces. That’s when I would show Kathy the instructions and we would make the necessary adjustments. The manufacturer knew best when they designed the instructions. Barna Research discovered that 87% […]

A recent study of more than 500,000 sales conversations, conducted by a tech company called Gong.io, uncovered that the highest performing sales people asked many more questions of their prospects. Their sales conversion rates were highest when they asked between 11 and 14 questions. According to the Harvard Business Review, the study also discovered that top performing salespeople scattered the […]

Years ago, I had an employee who had been very effective and engaged in her job. Then she became jealous of another employee. Her attitude changed, and the quality of her work declined dramatically. Although I addressed the underlying issues, it soon became evident that she was never going to reengage. We mutually agreed that she needed to leave. One […]