SMART goals have been a fixture in corporate life for more than 50 years, but you’ll rarely see successful CEOs use that approach. Chief executives typically eschew achievable and realistic goals in favor of BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals) or HARD goals (heartfelt, required, animated, and...
Previously, we discussed to-do lists and the need to prioritize your list (if you use one) to make sure that you get the most important work done first. While there is a place for keeping lists (many use them with great success), an even better strategy is to schedule tasks and block out your...
Are you being held accountable to "drive for results" and "motivate people?" If so, consider joining the resistance. If you are in HR, you need to lead the resistance. Now is the time to rethink what constitutes good leadership -- and overhauling obsolete competencies in leadership performance...
Summary. There are a lot of methods out there for staying organized. But which method prevails? Over four days, I tried four ways of organizing my to-do list. I tracked my overall productivity and stress levels to see which worked best. Monday: Get rid of your to-do list and instead schedule out...
Want to be a body language expert? Unlike the face, feet body language doesn’t lie. Here are 18 cues to know to become a mind-reading wizard. What is the one body part that you should always pay attention to when analyzing body language? Some might be surprised, but my answer is always the feet....
From makeshift webcams to smarter scheduling, these are the little innovations that are helping us get better at working from home. Too often in technology, we tend to focus on the grandiose: breakthrough hardware, hot new apps, ambitious new services. But in day-to-day use, even the little things...
In this era of communication at our fingertips, social media with limited characters, and short, 80,000-word books, it’s imperative to make a point quickly, succinctly and with maximum impact. Our “lizard” brains are impatient: if we don’t capture another’s attention within a short period of time,...
Are, like, filler or weasel words, you know, on the rise? What do the following words have in common: basically, really, actually, totally, exactly, very, highly, just, like, you know, uh, um, I mean, like I said, OK, so, well, right?, and stuff, literally? They’re all filler or weasel words –...
Deprioritizing the onboarding process can have serious long-term effects on employee retention and engagement, so you have to get it right. Onboarding has always been a critical part of the hiring process. Yet it’s also a part of the hiring process that all too often falls to the wayside once new...
Not surprisingly, in the last few weeks I’ve been contacted by board and C-level leaders, asking how they can rally and galvanize managers who appear to be buckling under the pressures and disruptions of the pandemic. These clients are grappling with issues like operational and supply chain...
Distracted leaders are octopods spinning like tornados with sucker-filled tentacles clinging to ‘important’ trivialities. You can’t go eight directions at the same time and make meaningful progress. The centrifugal force of distraction drives leaders toward triviality, anxiety, and burnout....
The right mindset is key to steering your business through turbulent times. Over the past few months, life got very real – especially for business owners: a global pandemic, economic recession, some industries almost wiped out, worldwide redundancies, and huge debt commitments taken on to enable...