Eclectic Change

Is Transparency Always The Right Choice? (Video)

I am the first person to believe that transparency is a good thing. I often preach it.  After reading a respected colleague of mine who does a lot work in the Middle East and Asia, I began to have a few reservations. So here are some thoughts for discussion. I'd love to hear your views. In the above video, I mention the book "Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor"  by Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman, James O’Toole.  You can find a nice little video of O'Toole discussing the b...

The Entrepreneurial Mindset (Video)

Today on Twitter I was personally asked, "When you first thought about being an entrepreneur, what did you consider? What was the best idea you heard?" I had just completed a post on my Assessments Today Blog recommending Daniel Isenberg's post on the Harvard Business Review blog: Should You Be An Entrepreneur? This is one of the best  check list I have seen on the subject.  Of the 20 items, Isenberg suggests that if you score 17, you should consider becoming an Entrepreneur.  I scored 16.  G...

Sometimes I feel like a High School Teacher

While I have never been fully and gainfully employed as a teacher, I did make go to Teacher's College and I supply taught to suppliment my way through my under graduate degree. If you think teaching is a challenge; try supply teaching.  I suspect that teachers must get tired of seeing the same old dribble come across there desks year after year.  The same ideas repackaged so that it didn't look like plagiarism. As I read the latest articles and stories, I find that I want to preface...

What is the opposite of success?

I have only begun to analyze all my data but the answer that is showing up for "What is the opposite of success?" is amazingly consistent.  Apart from a few unique responses a common theme one would expect shows up: Failure.  30% used this word precisely and many others had a similar meaning. What does this tell us? Success is still in many of our minds a goal driven process even though many of the definitions were more about a person's journey than the end result.  I can't help but wonder ho...

5 Eclectic Ideas To Improve Your Networking

You either love to network or you hate it.  You are either effective at it or you aren't. No matter where you sit / stand on these two continuum, there are some things you should never do when networking.  Dan Woog on Monster has done a great job of describing: Thirteen Networking Mistakes.  Read it! I took some time to think about where and how I made some of the more important relationships in my life and how they enhanced my own capacity for networking. Assuming that you don't commit the a...

Laser Coaching – Avoid a ‘fishing expedition” and get to the root quickly

In January, I read a great response to an issue on the New Coach Connection Yahoo Group by Marion Franklin.  I asked Marion, also a moderator of the group, if she would share her insights as a guest author.   She kindly agreed. I do want to remind the readers that this is not edited as an article per se. Marion does have her own ezine full of great stuff. Her contact information is below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Laser Coaching - Get to the root quickly by Marion Frank...

When did the words “I” and “Why” become so bad?

If you are coach or a facilitator, then maybe you should limit the use of these words but leaders - it is about time you reclaimed them. Leaders need to be using the word "I" when it comes to expressing how they feel regarding something and certainly to take responsibility.  Stop passing the buck by disappearing into that innocuous and vague collective "WE". When did the word "I" become all about me.  There is no "I" in team.  Spare me.  As Peter Jager would say "Just as 'there's no I in TEAM...

Improve Your Leadership Effectiveness By 20% – It Really Is This Easy

I know that I tend to be a little obtuse at times, so I thought that I would create a very simple 10 point list on how to immediately (yes immediately) improve your leadership. The only trick? You must implement half of these and do them every day. (And yes, I pulled the 20% right off the top of my head but I bet I am being conservative.) Smile - A smile goes a long way.  It is one, if not the only, universal body language gestures.  It invites engagement and openness. It communicates as a l...

Can you explain Employee Engagement so EVERYONE Gets It?

I was having coffee yesterday morning with a friend and colleague.  She was asking me how my success survey was going and what else I was writing about.  I mentioned that my last two topics were on employee engagement.  So she asked: "What really do mean by employee engagement?"  So I went into my long speech based on my first post using the Wii as an example. I explained that while employee engagement encompasses the old motivation and job satisfaction "techniques" it was so much more...