Stop Firing Lousy Employees.

Regardless of who you’re leading, you have people reporting to you that should perform better. A sales team, technology professionals, the operations teams — sometimes you just need a little bit more from those involved. A lot of books on leadership will tell you that under-performers should be fired. Jack Welch, the highly successful CEO of General Electric for 20 years made it a religion to fire anyone rated in the bottom of the company. Year after year, thousands of … Continue reading →

Why Almost Isn’t Good Enough.

Almost isn’t good enough. If you almost got the job that really means you didn’t make the final cut. If you almost won first place that really means you ended up losing. If you almost finished the job that means you really left your mission incomplete. If you almost care that really means you don’t care at all. If you’ve almost did the right thing that really means you ended up doing the wrong thing. If you have almost made … Continue reading →

Why People Change Their Mind And Why You Should Too.

People change their mind. People you don’t want to change, change their mind. You’ve been there before. You are negotiating a complex business deal and moving point-by-point to get the person on the other side of the table to sign off on the components of the deal. “Does that work for you?” you find yourself asking. And with a nod and a handshake you find yourself standing up from the table with a successful deal negotiated. Only later you … Continue reading →

The Secret to Getting Busy Executives To Take Your Phone Call.

You’ve been there before. The phone rings — breaking you out of your concentration. You’ve been focused on a complex task. Trying to solve a problem that has stumped you for hours. As the phone rings a second time, your hand moves from your mouse to the edge of the phone, ready to pick up the handset. Your eyes glance at the name showing on the screen. You pause for a second. As the phone rings a third time, you … Continue reading →

Emotional Courage.

It takes emotional courage to say “no” when “maybe” or “we’ll see” leaves you the wiggle room to avoid immediate confrontation. It takes emotional courage to be kind when pointing out the flaws of your opponent will make you gratified right now. It takes emotional courage to be professional and candid when passion aggression and situational dishonesty allow to you solve symptoms instead of addressing the uncomfortable underlying issues. It takes emotional courage to smile and and ask someone else … Continue reading →

Raging Failure.

We all get frustrated. We all have things that “push our buttons”. That send us into a rage. And reality is that it’s not one set of “things” that does it. It’s a bunch of them in a lot of different little places. Some of those frustrations are caused by stress in the office. Others are caused by poor personal relationships, bad financial decisions, and unrealized life goals. Together, this “life baggage” creates feelings of helplessness that can seem to … Continue reading →

Last Things First.

We all want something from life. Whether it’s a trophy, a job promotion, a bigger paycheck, or to be the first person crossing the finish line. However you label success for you doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you want to be successful. At something. Right now. So it helps to start with understanding what you want to achieve. The last thing is also the most important thing. You can’t just take life as it comes and expect to end … Continue reading →

How To Think For Yourself.

You have to start thinking for yourself sometime. Insist on yourself. Never imitate. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Frankly, at some point you don’t have a choice. Life forces you. Maybe it’s when you take your first step as a toddler. Or maybe it’s when you take the SAT test as a young adult. At some point, you realize that even though information is being thrown at you, it is up to you to interpret what you hear, to make your … Continue reading →

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