Year: 2011

I am preparing a workshop for a company that has an exceptional track record of success and yet has a notable morale problem. In general, good sales, profits and performance generate good morale, so this one presents a new challenge. By interviewing people throughout the company, and in their customer base, it is apparent that the morale issues are generated by a group of 5 people in a company of ...

I agreed to assist a client in screening some resumes he received in response to an ad for a sales rep. We were looking at recent college graduates who were just entering the professional sales marketplace for the first time. I called a young lady who stated her objective was to obtain a position in sales although she had just graduated with a degree with a major in radio and tv. I asked her why ...

Would someone please just tell me who in the world thinks lowering expectations is a good idea?  Where does it get you?  What has it done to our country?  Our ambition and achievement? Our independence and freedom?  I am livid at the  the nerve of anyone saying that to someone who has the vision and courage to have high expectations, given what they have to go through to get anything done! The onl...

In an age inundated by forces of political correctness, we have gotten away from the perspectives of what leadership means.  Many great books have been written about leaders, and my personal favorite is Good To Great but there are thousands of others that speak of leadership.  Better than anyone,  John Maxwell and Warren Bennis have defined leadership for decades. (more…)

Most people go to the refrigerator, channel surf or do almost anything else when the commercials come on TV. That is why they may not have noticed a subtle, yet pervasive theme in modern commercials- the ridicule and undermining of respect for the white American male, young and old. I began to notice this trend a few months ago (more…)

Nice is not enough. Can we just finally say it. Can we finally just acknowledge that “nice” doesn’t build performance, loyalty or respect. Is there anything more annoying that calling a customer service person, a really nice customer service person, and spending hours trying to get some resolution with nothing in return but apologies, niceness, excuses and putoffs. (more…)

The first problem with performance occurs at the time of hire. The second occurs when you don’t address the first one early on. The bottom line is many companies hire based on resume, but the employee fails based upon behavior. People confuse incompetence with incompatibility. We address credentials, intelligence, knowledge, experience when what really affects performance is the individual’s comfo...

This week I heard two stories that made me furious.  I have two exceptionally visionary, dedicated and kind clients who have run successful companies for over 30 years.  Coincidentally, both of these leaders had made decisions several years ago to turn over more of the day to day operations to their  No. 2 executives, both finance managers, CFO's. As you might suspect, the CFOs had very different...

The biggest shortcoming of performance evaluations is they do not directly result in a meaningful understanding of specifics that lead to immediate improvement.  That is a result that job descriptions are not as clear as they ought to be. This lack of clarity is related to the fact that most job description and evaluation processes often lack an emphasis on required and necessary behaviors when ...

Carl Jung, one of the pivotal influences in the development of the PDP profile, said "The goal of personality is wholeness." I have been aware for many years that people who spent most of their time operating in their areas of weakness become dissatisfied, discontent and worse.  People who work and build relationships in areas that are compatible with their strengths thrive and flourish. (more&he...