The managers of two different groups I worked with recently both feared that their employees wouldn’t contribute ideas and that the session would be a dud. As it turned out one group identified 36 opportunities for improvement and the other 20 ideas. The opportunities for efficiency and customer impact were very high. The managers were […]
Category: Growth
Evolution or Extinction?
During our vacation this summer we spent a few days in Chicago and spent one of our days at The Field Museum. As we walked through a great exhibit on evolution a couple of quotations caught my eye along with a couple of observations of how successful species who are better at adapting to their […]
Illusion of Certainty
Just got back from a couple of weeks of vacation, a large family reunion in Manitoba and a road trip there and back. A bit of excitement when my son Ryan, a new driver hit a deer that jumped out from the side of the highway. Fortunately he reacted quickly and avoided an accident and […]
Success disguised
Your greatest success might be disguised. That was the case for William Wrigley, Jr. You recognize the name from Wrigley chewing gum. What you might not have known is that Wrigley started out as a soap company, using chewing gum as a promotional giveaway inside the box of soap. Perhaps your greatest success is […]
Raise 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 […]