Monthly Archives: September 2014

Profit from Positivity – Part 1

Companies that love customers are just plain different. They have this remarkable tendency to be wildly successful. When leadership has both EQ – Emotional Intelligence – and reasonably good IQ they have people smarts as well as business smarts and can discover how to sustain and cultivate success.

As work and the workforce changes, the role of leadership is changing. While it’s still critically important for a leader to set direction, it’s no longer so important for a leader to give directions.
Capable people, enabled by the intelligence they access through search engines and social connections, often create new (and better) ways to do things. Just witness the number of young successful entrepreneurs in so many fields.

What Do the Fish and Flowers Say?

I ran into a friend of mine at a conference the other day. I was surprised to see her since I know that she works grueling hours as an art director. And, the impression that I’d gotten of the ad agency she works for left me with the feeling that they probably wouldn’t support a day of education out of the office.

The Power of Saying Thank You

Often the best advice is the simplest advice. The problem with simple advice is that people don’t take it because it seems so, well, simple. My experience tells me that simple can be very effective when done over and over again. A simple way to motivate, inspire and lead smarter is to increase your output of gratitude, thank-you’s and praise.

In my leadership training I speak a lot about raising the “Positivity Ratio” at work and letting people know we appreciate them.

Today here are some of my simple thoughts on thank you’s, gratitude and praise.

Do You Have the Freedom to Fail?

I have this ritual. Before I write a program for a client, I review my notes (I take lots), my impressions (those instant intuitive flashes that come while I’m taking notes) grab a stack of index cards to tuck into my fanny pack and head for a walk on the beach. Sometimes I play music, sometimes not.

By the time the walk is over I have an overall context of what I want to present and usually what my key purpose with that client is. Along with that kind of eagle eye view I also come home with ideas of what books I might need to take off my shelves for inspiration and wisdom.