Mastering Uncomfortable Conversations
In my work with senior teams, I witness far too many CEOs and senior leaders who are not skilled in having uncomfortable conversations. Instead, these leaders choose to withhold their concerns or unproductively lash out. The problem with both choices is that they...
The Most Important Question
Taking advantage of the opportunities in this moment for your company requires becoming a leader that is increasingly skilled in seeing more choices. Developing greater discernment can only improve through practice. This audioblog (5 min.) outlines a daily practice...
How to Train Leaders Who Change the World
Had so much fun chatting with my friend, former F-18 fighter pilot and five-time best seller Ed Rush on How to Train Leaders Who Change the World. Ed hosts a daily show (ED TALKS) that is an antidote to the anxiety of the current health crisis. You can find his show...
Leading In Crisis | Deepening Customer Trust
Originally featured in YPO Ignite blog! Businesses are in varying states of health with CEO’s facing a dizzying array of decisions in the midst of the global health crisis. While some are necessarily focusing their attention on tactics to survive, others are elevating...
Embrace Your Mental Swirl
The current global crisis, and the season of spring, is an opportunity for renewal. For me, part of a life well lived is the rituals that shape my perspective and way of being. One of my favorite alchemical and self-care rituals is journaling. I started my...
Leading in Crisis | Prioritize Personal Connection
Priorities change during a time of a crisis. Yes, there will be actions leaders needs to urgently attend to harden their business for the impact of this crisis. Still, it's important to escape the habitual patterns that occupied your calendar before the crisis and...
Ask the Expert | Trust in Times of Crisis
YPO was live with Adaptive Edge founder Scott Zimmerman talking about cultivating and maintaining trust in times of crisis. Resources mentioned in the episode can be found by visiting https://ypo.org/trust and https://adaptiveedges.com/trust....
Four Steps to Escape Your Limiting Stories
Originally featured in YPO Ignite blog! Despite meaningful intentions and reasonable strategies, organizations are increasingly unable to reach their goals. Often, leaders of these organizations are skilled in the tangible parts of their business but are...
What I Learned From Rick Tamlyn About Playing A Bigger Game
Five years ago, I was at the Young Presidents’ Organization’s Global Leadership Conference in Istanbul, sitting in a large auditorium with 2,000 CEOs from around the world. As part of the two days of learning, Rick Tamlyn, whose work inspires people to be their...
Moodshifting: Six Steps to More Impactful Choices & Actions
What is missing in most of today’s underperforming organizations, is a collective mood of ambition and the corresponding commitment it engenders that carries organizations to new levels of success. Evidence of missing ambition is revealed...
Is Your Organization Inspired Or Resigned?
In organizations not experiencing the success they desire, I universally find that the difference between peak performance and lackluster performance is contingent on the prevailing mood — the CEOs, the organization’s leaders, and their teams.
How To Create A Culture Of Problem Solvers
Start putting your energy into permanent solutions to long-standing challenges. There is no need to push recurring issues into the future. Solving these problems in your organization is less time consuming and more straightforward that you might think.
Stop Rushing From One Crisis To The Next
In these environments, leader’s conversations revolve around the crisis of the day, rushing unproductively from one to the next. They often spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with unexpected and recurring problems, previously “resolved” with temporary and incomplete patchwork.
Escaping Distraction: 5 Steps to Cut Cognitive Load
While these are the gifts, the acceleration created by exponential technology is outstripping leader’s abilities to adapt. In fact, the “always on” access to information and notifications is contributing to more dis-coherence as leaders struggle to make sense in a world with too many inputs.
Dialing In The Most Vital Activity To Crush Targets
This sales team produced 499% new project dollars on 150% greater projects in just 90 days! Needless to say, if those projects close at historical rates, this one quarter will have substantively changed the company’s future trajectory. I’ve seen leaders in other functional areas unlock the same unthinkable 100%+ improvements in as little as 90 days.
Focus Your Goals On The Most Vital Activity, Not Outcomes
Unfortunately, leaders regularly focus change efforts in the wrong places. If leaders’ do not focus performers on their most vital activity, they are flirting with failure before starting. It is, after all, where your team invests its time, energy, and attention that results are most likely to improve. So, if you are falling short, it is likely the activity most vital to achievement is not your overriding focus.
Drifting: Relaxing On The Ocean, Disastrous In Your Business
This downward cycle starts with what I call drifting. When leadership is adrift, the company follows. So leaders drive harder, demand more and unknowingly extinguish their spark even further. This only compounds the problem.
