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Bugs, Dolls & Engaging Work

Stars were bright when my granddaughter and her friend wound down a successful lightning bug hunt. The two girls put their florescent treasures in an orange and green bug holder with a two-way magnified viewer for easy and thorough bug inspections. (When I was a kid we used a quart-size Ball jar, anyways- back to the story.) We sat in the family room that night. My granddaughter’s eyes were wide with excitement. She verbally examined each bug: “what makes it glow, why do the lights go on and off, why is this one, where do you think they go during

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ReCulturing – The Other Solution

There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong. H.L. Mencken. The future of the Club Aluminum Company looked like an uphill race on a mud slick road with bald tires. The market was depressed. Capital was scarce. The production systems and equipment were in dire need of repair. Unhappy employees toiled to turn out inferior products. Salesmen used high pressure sales tactics. The management team had rightly earned their rotten reputation. A new President was hired. His well intentioned colleagues and consultants probably recommended that he restructure, hire better managers, and get new

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Best Execution

Folklore has it that when Henry Kissinger began as Secretary of State, people didn’t know quite how to deal with him. They buried him in impressive reports about all their projects including many pet projects. One man turned in a thick report and received it back from Dr. Kissinger with a note, “Is this your best work?” About 10 days later, he sent the report to Kissinger and received another note, “Can you do any better than this?” Such efforts went on for a couple more times and finally the man wrote a note saying, “Dr. Kissinger, this is absolutely

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Every Morning Leader

People are under extreme pressure today. Businesses, careers, families, and lives are being threatened by turbulent forces. We need more leaders who respond like the one I encountered last December. After spending 16 days in intensive care, a mentor of mine, who everyone calls Coach, was transferred to the skilled care/Medicare section of the hospital. In the early morning of the 17th day, his cardiologist rushed into his room. Coachs wife was sitting on the small sofa. I was standing by the window. The doctor said, I hate to tell you this, but I am no longer in control of

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Remembering to Learn

The 2009 economy was not a favorable one. Some experts say the events of this past year changed most every life and/or career for the worst. Well maybe or maybe not. We will not know the answer to that for a while, but we can answer this important question today: What did I learn in 2009 that will make me a better person in 2010? Here are nine random things I learned (or remembered again) in 2009: Letting go of the good ole’ past way of doing business was harder than I thought it would be. My business and personal

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Remember E Sabbath

Staff meetings happen each week in most organizations. This is the time we stop, report activity, recognize achievements and discuss next steps. This business practice may have deeper roots than people realize. The Sabbath (or Sabbat) is a weekly day of rest and worship that is observed in the Judeo-Christian faiths. The Biblical seventh day of the week is observed as a day of rest in Judaism starting at sundown on Friday till sundown on Saturday. Sunday is observed in Christianity as a day of rest. Friday is observed in Islam. The term derives from the Hebrew shavat, “(to) cease.”

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Win in 2010, Part 5 of 5

Businesses use a balance scorecard in strategic planning to insure their long term goals contain four key areas: finance, customer service, operations, and talent development. People who desire more balance in 2010 might consider looking at life as if it had four rooms: a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual room. Then define a goal for each room such as: having healthier lifestyle strength by- growing as professional by-, creating deeper relationships by- putting my faith in action by- etc- With goal statements clarified, it is important to set in place a system and structure to support your good intentions. Successful

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Preparing for 2010, 1-3

By now most organizations have finalized their 2010 business strategy and action plans. Have you decided on your personal strategy for next year? Over the next three months I will recommend a total of ten actionable ideas to help you get your leadership and life plan on the books before 2010. Here are my three suggestions for this month of October. 1. Start with your Stakeholders – Make a list of the people or groups that are vital for your happiness in life, productivity at work, and ongoing career success in 2010. Most people have eight to ten key relationships

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Profits Swell

“When things go wrong in your command, start searching for the reason in increasingly larger circles around your own two feet.” General Bruce Clarke Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago had been losing money for several years, when Quint Studer was recruited to fill their vacant COO position. He came in ready to turn things around with cost saving strategy fixes like: cutting expenses, restructuring staff or re-inventing something. Instead the CEO said Studer’s first priority was to improve their low patient satisfaction numbers. He had no experience in fixing patient satisfaction. So he started just walking around telling the nurses

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Mighty Success & Failure

Geese are hard wired to align their flight pattern to a flock leader. When a lead goose honks the signal to fly down to feed in a new field, all geese follow. Let’s say there is a set of geese decoys positioned in a field with hunters hiding close by. This natural looking set up catches the attention of the head goose. She decides to fly down. With momentum built on a collective sway of wings in pursuit of a morning meal, the flock follows the leader. Confident that their leader’s strategy is correct again, the flock descends into potential

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Until Retirement

My uncle passed away a few weeks ago- he was almost 80. He was a man who worked almost everyday, fished often enough and grinned a lot. At his country funeral service there were no musical instruments; no piano, no guitar, no pre-record music, but there was lots of singing. The music leader, a solemn farmer with perfect pitch and a rhythmic hand, led family and friends in a few of my uncle’s favorite hymns. The final refrain was, “We’ll work ’till Jesus Comes”. “At age 28, I am fully prepared to work until my dying day,” says Tim Eavenson

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When Careers Click

A woman was called in front of a Texas grand jury after she shot a mugger 6 times in the back as he was running away with her purse. When asked why she shot the man 6 times, she replied under oath: “Because when I pulled the trigger the 7th time it only went click.” Over the past few months, four mentally healthy top level professionals quit their job, without another job. Each had felt unsatisfied in their career for a few years: “I hung on hoping things would work out. I began dreading coming to the office. I felt

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More & Less Ahead

Despite the present economic situation some people have decided to come out ahead when this downturn turns up. The president of a business to business food service company explained her simple strategy. She called it her One More and One Less plan for 2009. She explained One More to her sales force, “In 2008 we averaged 3-4 item orders on each call to each customer. In 2009 we will most likely get only 2 orders from that same customer. So when you get your next two orders I want you to immediately ask the customer for one more introduction to

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Leading the People that are Left

It’s been a few weeks since the big layoff. You are hoping things will get back to normal soon. Then as you walk past a half vacant row of cubicles, you overhear another “Who will be next?” conversation cut short by the sound of your footsteps. In silence you ask, “How can I help my people get fully engaged again?” There is no a right answer to this question, but here are a few suggestions I have gathered over the years from managers who have asked themselves this question and found a few things that work. Create a Clear Agenda

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