Eclectic Change

Sometimes you really need peanut butter in the house.

My mother used to say:  "If you make your bed, then you have to lie in it."  As a result of this upbringing, I am a bit of a product of "Calvinism". I tend to think that good things won't last and I always wait for the other shoe to drop.   Friends would say I am a glass half empty kind of person.  (Am I using to many metaphors?) My great fortune in life is that my better half lives life with such optimism and positivity it is almost sickening.  (OK, enough with the metaphors except fo...

Rethinking Leadership

The first follower is an underestimated leader. To be a leader - you may have to be the first follower. The populous believes that you can't be a leader without having followers.  I hate this premise - even if I don't have a good argument to dismiss it. While watching people trying to figure out how to get home in spite of all the airplanes not flying due to volcanic ash, it was clear there was no leader of the pack. Nor was it any individual frenzy.  Everyone took personal responsibility f...

Are your a futurist?

I was very fortunate to be be able to attend the Lift10 Conference for the past three days.   Lift is a series of events built around a community of pioneers who get together in Europe and Asia to explore the social implications of new technologies. Each conference is a chance to turn innovation into opportunities by anticipating the major shifts ahead, and meet the people who drive them. It was extremely eclectic in topic choices and workshops.  What was exciting for me was not to listen...

The slippery slope of eccentricity (A personal work in progress)

This will be posted over Easter when I am off with the family on a journey to visit some German Castles and Legoland. It seems right to take a little time to pontificate on how my life has changed.  A small story of how I have chosen to remain a work in progress and reassemble the pieces of myself.  Too bad it is not as easy as Play-mobile or Lego. When I was in my 30's I use to say that I was in training to be eccentric.  I felt that any eccentricity before the age of 60 was merely being "fl...

Encouraging Differences Starts at Home

Everyone wants to be accepted for who they are.  Mothers are great for that.  While they have high hopes for us, the bottom line is that mothers want us to be happy.  Mothers also quickly learn how their children are similar and how they are are different from them.  The good mothers foster and encourage those differences.  I had a mother like, that even though she worried all the time about me. My mother tried hard to manage me . . . she figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't at all like h...

Team Commitment – Creating trust and confidence amongst team members

In my previous post, I discussed the importance of a Team Charter. Through the development of a Team Charter, members have the opportunity and responsibility to craft a shared purpose and vision for themselves  It doesn't have to be grandiose but something that engages them so each person feels a part of the whole.  This is the beginning of the possibility of commitment to the team.  But something even more powerful has to be present.  Team members will only be committed to the team as much as t...

How toxic before you amputate?

Last September, France Télécom SA announced it would train all of its 22,000 managers to identify staffers showing signs of depression or erratic behavior after unions blamed a recent spate of suicides among workers on the company's recent restructuring efforts.  By October, the situation had worsened and a France Télécom executive resigned after the employee suicide tally had risen to 24.  One resignation?  A good analysis can be found by Gill Corkindale on the HBR Blog at that same time:  Why...

Staying open – the danger of assumption; the possibility of creation

“There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that’s important.” (Jim Rohn) This is an unbelievably profound statement and each time I ponder it, I am amazed at all the beauty and art that is created as a result of these three simple facts.  Now it is true that we have splintered and sliced and diced colors, digits and notes but it leads me to truly accept that there is "nothing new under the sun".  I have never been "accused" of being particularly artistic but I do...

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...

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...