Blog #7: CISS- IF you want to run great meetings, use CISS not KISS
As many of you know, I often learn more from clients than I give. The model below is one such insight. It has become a mainstay of the advice I give today’s leaders about their role in keeping meetings smart, fast and effective. IF you want to run great meetings, use CISS not KISS Ask […]
Blog #6: How to get your career unstuck: look for a lily pad, NOT your next big job
If you’ve done it for 10 years, you need to make a change. If you’ve been doing more or less the same thing for 6 to 10 years or more, you are probably feeling stuck, irritable, negative and a little bored. You may have a sense of quiet excitement about the future …. a palpable […]
Blog #5: FEMA – How To Handle Being Highjacked By Your Emotions
All of us sometimes get so angry or frustrated or anxious or otherwise emotionally out of whack that we can’t seem to focus on anything else. Here is a relatively quick way to deal with such situations. It’s called FEMA, appropriately enough, like the Federal Emergency Management Administration. FEMA is an acronym for the process: […]
Blog #4: If you want the truth – give them options
Sometimes when you ask a question, you know an honest answer might be tough for somebody to give. Perhaps it’ll be embarrassing for one or both of you, or critical, or not politically correct. You worry that, to avoid awkwardness, they may not give you the full truth. Plenty of situations fall into this category: […]
Blog #3: High performance is NOT working hard and doing your job really really well
Many of us have had the experience of working longer and harder than others and performing our responsibilities exceptionally well, only to be given the equivalent of a B on our annual review. Or, equally frustrating, we’ve tried to get an exceptional subordinate or colleague promoted only to have others refuse to recognize what we […]
Blog #2: How to Communicate in a Crisis
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when there was so much fear and turmoil, a friend forwarded me a letter written by their CEO. It was an attempt to calm and fortify his team, and my friend found it profoundly helpful and supportive. This email inspired me to think about communicating in tough […]
Blog #1: How to Set Priorities When You Are Totally Overloaded
There are times when we all feel buried under a ton of to-dos, many of which seem both urgent and important. Between work and home, a typical executive has over a hundred projects going, with countless associated tasks and an avalanche of requests flying out of their inboxes daily. And all that has been intensified […]