Morten Hansen, a University of California, Berkley professor, has released a new book around his research on high performers. In our fast-paced world when we have so many priorities and opportunities, Mr. Hansen discovered that the highest performing workers have mastered selectivity. These high performers have discovered that carefully selecting which projects and tasks they should work on is more […]

One movie I’ve enjoyed watching multiple times is “Groundhog Day.” Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, is a mean-spirited, egocentric, malcontented reporter who has been forced to cover the annual Groundhog Day ceremony in Pennsylvania. Caught in a time-loop, Connors relives Groundhog Day over and over again. At first, he exploits his knowledge of what will happen for personal gain. […]

When President Trump signed the recent tax reform bill, many businesses had an immediate response. Some gave bonuses or raises to their employees, some donated millions to charity, and some businesses passed it along to shareholders. Most of us will also receive a windfall this month in our paycheck. With a windfall, we have a choice as to how we […]

In the early years of my marriage to Kathy, her family interactions during the holidays shocked me at times. My family members are peacemakers with conflict avoided at all costs. Kathy’s family on the other hand was verbal and sometimes loud when things didn’t go according to plan. The strife in those early years was hard for me to handle, […]

Years ago, I felt slighted by an organization. Over time, the conflict in my mind became even bigger, leading me to send an email to the CEO expressing my concerns. This leader never responded, leading me to even greater anger and frustration. Finally, I scheduled a time for coffee to confront the CEO directly. The meeting was an embarrassment as […]

Years ago, a pastor and his elders were locked in conflict. Early on, the pastor shared a vision with the elders that they needed to become more evangelistic and community minded. The leaders, knowing their church was dying, embraced his vision and hired this pastor to move them forward. Sometime later, however, these longstanding leaders began grumbling about the changes […]

This week we’re discussing causes of conflict in today’s workplace. One of those causes is obstinance. There are some people who love to cause trouble. If you say yes, they say no. As a junior loan officer, my job required me to present loan proposals to the bank’s loan committee. One of the members of the committee prided himself on […]

This week we’re discussing some of the causes of conflict in today’s workplace. One of those causes is hatred. Years ago, at a Graduate School of Banking event, a comedian asked everyone to stand. He then asked us to look to the person to our right. He then asked everyone to look to the person to their left. Then he […]

This week we’re discussing some of the causes of conflict in today’s workplace. One of those causes is deceit. While working as a lender at a large bank part of my job was to recruit new bank customers. On one occasion, after years of hard work, I finally landed an account from a high-profile company. A superior of mine, however, […]

This week we’re discussing some of the causes of conflict in today’s workplace. One of those causes is greed. Years ago, I helped a contractor establish a bonus plan for their branch locations. The bonus plan worked fine and everyone played by the rules except for one manager. He became greedy and manipulated the numbers to increase his part of […]