Reboundability

March 9th, 2010
 

I had the oppor­tu­nity to work with one of our favorite clients last week in Den­ver. Our team orga­nized and led a two day expe­ri­ence for their top per­form­ing man­agers and sales force. It was a won­der­ful time.

Won­der­ful, that is, once I arrived.

I will spare you the brunt of my travel woes, but my day involved can­celled planes, standby, and an arrival just 3 hours after the event started. Slightly stressed (or just a bit more than slightly), I made it to the site with just 15 min­utes to spare before I was to speak on Coach­ing Leadership.

It was at this event that I learned about the term “rebound­abil­ity”. After my pre­sen­ta­tion, I was talk­ing to a few of our clients and I shared about my day’s mishaps. This is when our friend and client Melanie Nygren shared this idea of reboundabilty.


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Do You Have the Conviction of Excellence?

March 3rd, 2010
 

I’ve noticed that the word “excel­lence” is sur­fac­ing more often in the guid­ing prin­ci­ples or con­vic­tions of companies.

A few years ago, I started work­ing with the lead­er­ship of a UK based petro­leum addi­tives firm. One of their pri­mary ini­tia­tives is “orga­ni­za­tional excel­lence.” Last week, I spent time with the lead­er­ship of a huge restau­rant chain whose first prin­ci­ple of suc­cess is “oper­a­tional excellence.”

Tomor­row I will be with a mort­gage bank­ing firm, and “man­u­fac­tur­ing qual­ity” is one of their guid­ing prin­ci­ples. Now, “man­u­fac­tur­ing qual­ity” does not have the word excel­lence in it, but as I read what it means to them the word excel­lence jumped right out.

As lead­ers, we must closely exam­ine this trend.


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The Power of One

February 24th, 2010
 

As I write this, I am in Wash­ing­ton DC as a guest of our client and part­ner Chick-fil-A at their annual conference.

The event kicked off last night, with about 3600 of their team mem­bers in atten­dance. It was a pow­er­ful open­ing, with music by Israel Houghton and a great mes­sage by Bill Hybels. Bill is the Sr. Pas­tor of Wil­low Creek Church in Chicago, and he founded the Lead­er­ship Sum­mit which impacts thou­sands of lead­ers every year from around the world.

What struck me last night was the theme. I’m not sure whether Israel and Bill had synched up prior to that night, but their mes­sage was clear.

Each of us can be used to for­ever impact the life of one person.


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Belong, Become, Build

February 17th, 2010
 

The year 2010 is now six weeks under­way. I’ve observed that within many lead­ers, across many indus­tries, there still is a great deal of uncer­tainty about what the future holds.

When you feel unsure about next quar­ter, next week, or even tomor­row, fear can take over. It’s easy to lose sight of your larger plan when you feel like you’re scram­bling. I’ve found, time and time again, that the best rem­edy for fear and uncer­tainly is a healthy dose of vision.


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Worst Case Thinking

February 11th, 2010
 

What’s the worst thing that can hap­pen? What if I don’t do well on this exam? What if he says no? What if I get turned down for the pro­mo­tion, or nobody agrees with me, or I lose every­thing I invested? What is really the worst case?

Worst Case Think­ing is a process that can aid those of you who find your­selves unable to take healthy risks. This sim­ple think­ing model can help you to over­come the neg­a­tive emo­tions that are birthed in illog­i­cal fear.

Over the years, this type of fear has come up count­less times in coach­ing ses­sions. I’ve seen Worst Case Think­ing help many in their lives and careers to risk more, expe­ri­ence more, impact more and grow more. Here is how it works.


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