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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living & Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part ?

Observation Unnumbered : A Little Slack Have you found yourself making more mistakes over the last few days? Have you over-committed on some projects – feeling that you can get more done since you’re not having to drive and show up at work all day every day? Have you found yourself pushing others, and yourself, to do more and setting unrealistic expectations? Are you realizing that you are sometimes not being so kind to them, or to yourself, when those ever expanding, often shorter, timeline expectations don’t get done perfectly? I have. Did you read yesterday’s observation # 6, or

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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living & Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part 6

Last week we reviewed these 5 concepts: Last week we reviewed these 5 concepts: One Unshakable Truth – Everyone has unseen battles they are fighting. Be kind. #1 Change is not the same as transition. #2 Personality matters. #3 Role clarity counts. #4 Principles set the pace. #5 Purpose is power. Process matters. Show people a simple model so they can identify where they are in their transition process and progress. Listen and guide them with questions to take ownership of their next step. As shown here, in each phase there are things people say or do that help you

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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living & Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part 5

Over the past 4 days we reviewed these 4 concepts: One Unshakable Truth – Everyone has unseen battles they are fighting. Be kind. #1 Change is not the same as transition. #2 Personality matters. #3 Role clarity counts. #4 Principles set the pace. Today we’ll discuss Observation #5 – Purpose is power. When people know the why behind a change and can see a promised land, both collectively and individually, they can get through transition easier. Without a personal vision or purpose, people tend to go back to their safe endings, no matter how painful those past circumstances were. Yesterday

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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living & Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part 4

So far this week, we have reviewed these concepts: One Unshakable Truth – Everyone has unseen battles they are fighting. Be kind. #1 Change is not the same as transition. #2 Personality matters. #3 Role clarity counts. Today is about Observation #4 – Principles set the pace. Clarity of personal values and shared values guide effective behavior and help set a pace so people can move steadily forward and even grow through their wilderness experience. In Your Organization’s Keys Jim Collins and Jerry Porras wrote a classic article in the Harvard Business Review entitled, “Building Your Company’s Vision.” The authors

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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living & Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part 3

Monday and Tuesday, we reviewed these two concepts: 1- One Unshakable Truth – Everyone has unseen battles they are fighting. Be kind. 2- Change is not the same as transition. Change is an event. Transition is the emotional stages people go through when change happens. Today’s observation is – Role Clarity Counts. People are structure-seeking beings. When change hits, each person needs to talk about his or her role and how the change will affect them and the ones they love. I’d like to share a couple of stories and a role clarity technique that I have found useful at

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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living & Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about two foundational concepts: One Unshakable Truth – Everyone has unseen battles they are fighting. Be kind. Change is not the same as transition. Change is an event. Transition is the emotional stages people go through when change happens. Today the observation is – Personality matters. Every person has a unique way he or she reacts and works through transition. How and when a person rolls up their sleeves and regains their purposeful place is on their clock, not yours. One size fits one. Each person has a distinct personality that was formed from both nature and

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Roll Up Your Sleeves – Living and Leading in a World of Constant Change, Part 1

Many of you know that I have written a new book as a follow-up to The White Shirt. The title and tag line are displayed at the top of this message today. My publisher just approved the final edits and the book will released in Fall 2020. But I wanted to share some of ideas from this book before then. Those of you who know me well know that I am very cautious about overloading people with information, but these are unprecedented times. I thought that sharing some practical guidance from this book might be helpful to you and sooner

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Running to Reverence

At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, right before each surgery begins, the whole team of doctors, nurses, and others stop what they are doing. They take a short moment to remember the person they’re going to conduct surgery on. They call it the moment of reverence. Team The team goal is to ensure that everyone remembers the humanity of the situation. It’s about breaking the routine procedures, pausing to recognize the importance of what’s happening, and appreciating the people involved. This moment can also reinforce a core value that everyone should be proceeding with – to encourage care, precision and

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For Safety Sake

I work with a lot of organizations where safety is the # 1 priority . These businesses have many programs, promotions and presentations to keep safety upmost in the minds of all employees. Of course, they are talking about physical safety – specifically working safe so that everyone can to go home to loved ones at the end of the workday physically whole, i.e. no accidents. There is another type of safety that impacts not only physical safety but productivity, innovation and collaboration as well. This other type of safety is psychological safety which is defined as a belief that

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This is Good

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” Henry Ford Over the last several months, I’ve encountered more major leadership team challenges than I can ever remember. Some are so personal and ethically challenging that I can’t even mention them, but there is one I would like to share. I began a new project with a new organization, and the week I showed up, two members of the six-member executive team resigned. So, you’re probably thinking that you might want to think twice before you ask me to work with your team. That could be true,

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Raking in the New Year

Small-Time Leaders
Small-Time Leaders
Raking in the New Year
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This past Tuesday, the speaker at my Rotary club, a retired Chairman of the Board of his very successful family business, didn’t talk much about his business. He talked about his past 10 years’ experience of being a volunteer airplane pilot transporting war-injured veterans to places they needed to go around the world. He was on one of the most joyful speakers I have ever heard. Rotary clubs are famous for writing checks to good causes, but he reminded us of something more important when he said, “My father always told me this about serving others: The easiest thing to

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Christmas Cheer All Next Year

My wife and I and a few friends have a tradition where we go to the Alabama Theatre in downtown Birmingham every year to watch a classic Christmas movie, like It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, etc. This year it was Elf. Besides the nostalgia of sitting in this “movie palace” built in 1927 and resurrected in 1998, you get to see original Disney cartoons and sing old Christmas carols before each movie. Singalongs are made even more special by the theatre’s pipe organ, a Wurlitzer Opus 1783. Affectionally known as Big Bertha, it’s played by legendary

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Engaging Thankfulness

The Campbell Soup company had lost its way when Douglas Conant took charge in 2001. In the late 1990s, the company increased prices and lost many consumers to less expensive soup brands. Rather than bring prices back down, to maintain earnings Campbell cut costs by reducing advertising and laying off employees – moves that resulted in even lower sales. By the time Conant was recruited, the company’s share price had dropped from a high of $60 in 1998 to $30 in 2001. Conant said, “We had a toxic culture. People were understandably jaundiced with management.” He added, “It was hard

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Small-Time Leader Vol. 2

Seven Words of Life The cabin door of the plane was about close when he came rushing down the aisle and flopped down in the seat next to me. I wasn’t in the best of moods, but he was. Hand extended, he said, “My name is Jim. What is yours?” We small talked for a while. He told me he was a trainer and consultant and had been doing that for most of his business life. He owned firm and was doing management, sales and communication seminars with business groups around the country. Then he asked, “What do you do?”

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