What you see is what you get – measuring your response to others
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What you see is what you get – measuring your response to others

What good is it? Often the mantra of the obsessively practical or the hopelessly cynical, a “what good is it?” response typically indicates disgust, disappointment, or disdain, maybe all three. Obsessively practical leaders seem to become well, obsessed, with efficiency. Every act, every task, every intention, indeed every suggestion is qualified by its practical contribution...
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The Might as Wells – Letting one thing lead to too many others.
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The Might as Wells – Letting one thing lead to too many others.

I call it sequences, that annoying way of letting a simple task become far more complex. Even Murphy and his sagacious laws (If anything can go wrong it will, et al) has wryly observed that “You can’t do something until you do something else first.” Sometimes, it is unavoidable…and true. You really can’t do some...
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The Most Powerful Question a Leader Can Ask…and it’s only one word
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The Most Powerful Question a Leader Can Ask…and it’s only one word

Businesses and organizations tend to generate lots of paper and digital directives. Over time (usually a very short amount of time) they put in place standards, processes, systems, methods, and forms…lots and lots of forms to be filled out and handed to someone at some time who does something with them (although most of us...
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Why leadership training programs fall short
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Why leadership training programs fall short

The American Society for Training and Development reports that U.S. businesses spend a whopping $170 billion on leadership training programs.  They largely fail or at the very least fall way short of the expectations set for them. Why? Because you do not train leaders; you develop them. Training does have its place. We can train...
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7 rules of engagement that make it easier for your associates to work with you
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7 rules of engagement that make it easier for your associates to work with you

Unless you are the sole proprietor of your business and work in isolation, tucked away somewhere in a closed room, you have to work with, for, and alongside others.  In every job there is a certain amount of give and take with which we must all contend. We must be able to get along if...
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6 principles of effectiveness
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6 principles of effectiveness

If efficiency is the economic use of human, psychological, and material resources, what is effectiveness? Go ahead. Think about it. I’ll wait… Like many of you, I find the Business Dictionary online to be a useful and oft utilized resource. Here’s how they define effectiveness: The degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent...
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14 Ways an outsider can make strategic planning even more productive
associates developing capable people Effective Leadership Efficiency employees teaching Effective Leadership Efficiency management planning Effective Leadership Efficiency developing capable people Effective Leadership Efficiency leadership development training communication Efficiency Effective Leadership Efficiency vision Effective Leadership Efficiency planning

14 Ways an outsider can make strategic planning even more productive

Lots of jobs are outsourced these days. With the downturn in the economy a few years ago many companies discovered they could save money by hiring the assistance they needed when they needed it rather than keep them on the payroll all the time. Some jobs lend themselves to this better than others – commercial...
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Viability – lessons from Studebaker
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Viability – lessons from Studebaker

They started making wagons for farmers, miners and the military in 1852. Incorporated in 1868 under the name Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, they entered the automobile business in 1902 making electric vehicles. By 1904 they were making gasoline-powered vehicles and for the next 50 years became a major player in the business. With a reputation...
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Keeper Trait #7 – Diligence
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Keeper Trait #7 – Diligence

I went through 26 employees. 26 employees hired and fired over the course of five years. In that time I was approached by the Job Corps people with candidates for work, by who knows how many walk-ins, and by people responding to ads in the newspaper. Some lacked the talent to be trained for even...
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Keepers Trait #5 – Creativity
associates developing capable people Effective Leadership Efficiency employees teaching Effective Leadership Efficiency management planning Effective Leadership Efficiency developing capable people Effective Leadership Efficiency leadership development training communication Efficiency Effective Leadership Efficiency vision Effective Leadership Efficiency planning Effective Leadership Efficiency Leadership management productivity vision Efficiency employees management productivity responsibility Effective Leadership Efficiency employees Leadership management

Keepers Trait #5 – Creativity

For my birthday, my son took me to a new restaurant in downtown Ft. Myers, Florida, near where I live.  Ft. Myers was winter home to Thomas Edison. While here, he invited close friend Henry Ford down for a visit. Ford liked the place so much he bought the house next door to Edison. The...
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