Seek first to understand and other great habits from Stephen Covey

In 1989 Stephen Covey wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is still a source of wisdom to me and one of the few books I revisit to align to my true north. My 2 favorite habits are “Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.” and “Begin with the end in […]
Mentor, don’t instruct

How often does someone try to delegate up to you? Hey boss, how do I get on the shared drive? Hey boss, what should I say to this difficult customer? Hey boss, should we get a different supplier?
Receiving feedback

Is it easy for you to receive feedback? For most of my life, you could give me positive feedback all day long. I would tend to dismiss it, but I’d be emotionally happy. If i received negative feedback, my stomach clenched as my jaw froze into a slight tight smile, which may have looked like […]
Giving feedback

Do you give fair and accurate informal feedback to your direct reports? Teams that do outperform by 40%. Would getting better at giving feedback and receiving it help your company perform better? Dr. Eve Meceda spoke to my Vistage groups about mindset and gave us a set of clues for how to give fair, accurate […]
Be Impeccable

I have been working with the team of a fast growing So Cal company for a long time. Fast growing companies have so many moles they have to whack, but creating a culture that people can align around is one of the most important things.
Stories and Pictures

My friend, Pam, visiting from Seattle, inspired a trip to the Grand Central Market and Little Tokyo in downtown LA. When guests ask you about your town, what do you say? What do you show them?
toxic leadership

The #metoo movement continues to change our national discourse as we observe the various levels of behavior that are called out. How bad was it? How would we view it if/when it happens in our own organizations?
Do you have a New Supervisor Playbook?

Do you have a new supervisor playbook that you use when you promote or hire for supervisory positions? Are you finding that you make assumptions of how people will be with each other and then it doesn’t go as you expected? Do you find you have to spell out a lot more about people’s communication […]
Risk tolerant?

In his book The Growth Dilemma, Ami Kassar has a series of questions to evaluate how risk tolerant you are in your business. If he gave you $1 million, would you invest it in your company or put it in mutual funds?
Biz-blab

A term for confusing communication that tries to sound smart, yet has obscure meaning, was just introduced to me. The term is biz-blab. I immediately was captivated.