Eclectic Change

The Personality Potion

Image via Wikipedia While I was sitting at breakfast this morning, I noticed the book title that my 7 yr old was reading, TreeTops Stage 13 "The Personality Potion" (If you know the scholastic series, you will know that I am boasting because Stage 13 is for 9 to 10 year old.) It was evident to me that here was a blog post if I ever saw one.  So after every one had left for school and work, I sat down to read this delightful book by Alan MacDonald. The story is about a young boy Dann...

Rethinking The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Being in Prague and unable to get home for four days provided me with two wonderful opportunities: a chance to visit the city and take an unexpected mini vacation time to reflect on life, business, priorities and blessings I plan to write about some of my observations over the next couple of weeks. Some of the topics will be: rethinking teams rethinking engagement rethinking collaboration rethinking leadership Today, I want to share with you what I discovered about what is ...

Team Process Skills – Tell me true

Team process skills are probably the one team item that is "discussed" and not pursued the most.  There are a few reasons for this: Image by Robert Higgins via Flickr We think that since we communicate all the time, we will naturally do it properly. There is an assumption that they are "dealt" with in creating the guiding principles. Some of the emotional issues you may anticipate but you really can't relate until it happens. In truth, these are the most challenging types of be...

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...

TILT – Pam Boney on Wisdom (audio)

Kay Cannon interviews Pam Boney about Wisdom Quadrant of the Transcendent Leadership Model of Tilt. What are The Tilt Meta-Factors If a leader is able to accomplish four key aspects of leadership presence, the potential for performance is exponential instead of incremental. Why? Because a leader that can be trusted to put the objective needs of the enterprise above their own interests are operating on principles that rise above the personal agenda of ego to accomplish the right objectives ...

Practical Wisdom and Character (Tilt360)

Just going live today, Barry Schwartz, on TED Talks, makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will helprebuild our world. You can view the 20 minute video below. Barry Schwartz shows us examples and clearly states that the key to “practical wisdom” is the development of character. This has to begin in the classroom and teachers (...

Communications Style Inventory – with our thanks

If you want to improve your communication skills, build solid teams with your co-workers, enhance your communications, leverage the relationships you have with others, or accomplish a myriad of other goals, The Platinum Rule™ will help you do that... and more. So look around the Assessments Now site and enjoy. But, to fully experience the magic of The Platinum Rule™ take your personalized Assessments Now Communicatons Style Assessment. You will receive a 33 page report and can ask others to c...

5 Dysfunctions of a Team Workshop

I recently had the opportunity to working with a group of strong leaders who where struggling with the challenges of building a cohesive team.  It wasn't surprising to anyone when they got the report back from the online 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Assessment.  The results were low on four of the five dysfunctions.   Their organization systemically encouraged operating in silos and through the use of individual style assessments, it was clear that the individuals were not by nature ones who were i...

Why I hate Feedback

Sure, third party feedback is important. But what do I do with it? I hate getting feedback. I know, how dare I? Isn't the business that we are in at 1-Focus all about feedback? Perhaps... but who wants to take a bitter pill, even if others say it's good for me? Generally, I think feedback can be devastating, especially if I feel the person giving the feedback has an agenda. It's easy for me to get defensive. Besides, I don't always know what to do with it. I just don't like it, even when I coul...

Leadership Assessment based on the book “Good To Great”

  In Jim Collins' landmark book, Good to Great, one of the most surprising results of the research of good-to-great companies was in the discovery of the type of leadership required to turn a good company into a great one. One might think that such companies are led by high-profile leaders with big personalities, those who make headlines and become celebrities. Yet, those leaders who seek and thrive in the spotlight do not exude what can be termed “Level 5 Leadership”. Leaders of this type ...