Sometimes we slip into recalcitrant thinking and behavior. The impact of such behavior is defensive, limiting, and “slowing.” That impact is especially magnified when the recalcitrance comes from leadership. What does recalcitrance look like in an organization? Impose...
Thought Leaders
SUCCESSion!
The best leaders I know are constantly doing the work of succession planning. Most organizational leaders know they are only one minute or one decision away from no longer being the leader. How do these wise leaders go about the business of succession planning? They...
Dr. Kim Alexander and Alton Frailey on Rural Innovation
CanDO
Pushing for improvement is a process, not an event. It involves adopting new habits AND abandoning old habits. The time-tested mantra of “Old habits die hard” has staying power because of its profound truth. It really doesn’t matter if we are at the top, middle, or...
CultureMicroscope
Culture is the ultimate expression of our values. We default to the values of our dominant cultural affiliation UNLESS we choose values different from those. Important questions to ask ourselves and our teams as we examine whether or not our organizational culture is...
OpeningHeight
Early in my career I pretended to be an athletic coach. One of the events I attempted to coach was the high jump. In the high jump (and the pole vault) there is what is called the “opening height.” That is the height at which the bar is initially set to start...
GrowthDays
Birthdays are merely anniversaries of our arrival on this planet. That day may have been much-anticipated and dearly longed for. Maybe not. It might have gone just as expected and without complication. But then, perhaps not. It might have occurred with much fanfare...
Habituation
In most organizations, the end of summer marks a “new” beginning. Rather than January 1, the return of employees (or students) at the end of summer seems the de facto initiation of a work year. The best leaders I know understand the power of HABIT, on themselves and...
CatKiller
You’ve heard the old saw: “Curiosity killed the cat.” While that idiom may hold fair warning for cats, it’s not a great tenet for humans to live by. People with truly curious minds tinker, poke, stretch, re-do, undo, experiment, innovate, and improvise. They LEARN!...
GitterDoners
Some of the folks I admire most get a LOT of stuff done. They have eclectic interests, curious minds, and superb skills in task completion. I’ve noticed some commonalities in these Gitter-Doner types: They know the time of day when their brain works best,...
