Modelling the McJob: Why Managing Like McDonalds Might Be Good For Employees
Last Wednesday (May 5th) was McHappy Day at McDonalds Canadian operations. It is a big fundraiser for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada. I had the priviledge of working as a volunteer that day for the fifth time. I’m guessing they took a look at my performance reviews from 1983 when I worked at McDonalds […]
MoreCorporate Quicksand – How to Engage Passive Employees
As a leader, you are measured on results and those results depend on people taking action. A common frustration is how to get the rest of the organization to buy into ideas more quickly and move forward. It turns out that the primary reason why parts of the organization move as fast as sludge […]
MoreRaise or Praise?
I was reflecting back on some pre-training interviews with different organizations in the past two weeks. One theme was common – lack of positive feedback. Of all the leadership tools at the manager’s disposal, positive feedback is one of the least expensive and highest payback actions. Instead of focusing so much attention on what […]
MoreEqual Opposite Reaction
One confusing aspect of leadership is that even with the best of intentions, you might end up creating the exact opposite reaction. I have experienced this many times as a husband-in-training. We’ll examine the most common leadership missteps you might not even realize you are committing. Even well intentioned leaders will create exactly […]
MoreSelling my car 2005 Buick Allure CX
I decided to buy a new vehicle and am selling my 2005 Buick Allure CX. It has 153,000 km (mostly highway) from all the driving I do to and from client meetings and training sessions. I’ve kept the car well maintained and just had it professionally detailed so it is extra clean. Included are two […]
MorePeople or Objects?
I had some exciting news last week. The book I co-authored with my father Irwin reached number 8 on the Globe and Mail Business Books Bestseller List. The book is Employees Not Doing What You Expect and has now been published in India, Latin America and Korea. Now we return to our regularly scheduled LeaderFeeder… […]
MoreProductivity Crisis?
The news media has been reporting that Canadian productivity gains are embarrassingly low. Instead of viewing this as abstract information that is irrelevant to you, why not take up the challenge to boost productivity. You may not have a choice anyway. The Conference Board of Canada predicts that by 2031, only 23 workers will be […]
MoreDestination or Journey?
It was school break week in our area last week. We took a day trip to nearby Niagara Falls. My wife Robin made an interesting observation as we drove. She pointed out that my son Ryan is “destination focused” while my daughter Rebecca is focused more on “the Journey.” The same thing can apply […]
MoreEngage to Change: Leading change requires focus in three areas
Why is it that many change initiatives are more stressful, time consuming and ineffective than they should be? Successful change requires the leader to engage the Head, the Heart and the Feet of employees in order to achieve lasting, significant change. A great book that discusses this topic in an entertaining and informative way is […]
MoreAssisted the arrest of an impaired driver
I wanted to share this story about how two colleagues and I helped the police catch an impaired driver… This past Monday I was driving two colleagues to an evening meeting in Toronto. We stopped at the highway service center Mc Donalds near Cambridge, Ontario to grab a bite to eat. While in line to […]
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