“Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble.” ~Yehuda Berg The power of words can have an unforeseen impact on you, your life, and the life of others. How we wield them can either be extremely negative, extraordinarily positive,…
“If you are in a leadership position, any you avoid conflict, speaking the truth (facts), or giving feedback, you might want to consider a different position!” ~Joe Contrera For more than two decades I have had the privilege of helping leaders develop their leadership and coaching skills. And yet…I am still amazed at the…
“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” ~ Margaret J. Wheatley The Law of Unintended Consequences A short time ago I was working with a team of senior leaders. We were discussing the overall purpose of the organization and the bottom-line goal that was driving…
Voltaire was a Pretty Smart Guy – (Part I of a 4 Part Series) François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, was a prolific writer, historian, and philosopher. He was a staunch believer in freedom of religion and freedom of speech, so I find it ironic that the words he spoke some 300 years ago can set…
When Corporate Headquarters and the Field Are Not Connected Over the years I have had the opportunity to work for organizations who have multiple locations all over the world and a centrally located corporate headquarters located 1000’s of miles away from where the actual work is being done. I experienced this situation early on in…
So what’s all this mumbo jumbo you keep hearing about Emotional Intelligence? Emotional Intelligence can be defined as a person’s ability to effectively negotiate social relationships and environments. Emotional Intelligence is a relatively new science and is becoming an important factor in determining a persons success in business and in life. A recent survey of…
The Art of Listening vs. The Ignorance of Interrupting 72 Interruptions … Yes, count them! Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine interrupted his opponent or the debate moderator 72 times in a 90 minute period. That’s once every 75 seconds! He wasn’t interested in debating, he had an agenda and he was driving it home. He…
Creating a Culture of Communication … Sow What? Poor Communication continues to be the single biggest factor that negatively impacts organizations. The sad thing is that it has been this way … for 100’s of years. Poor listening skills, failure to communicate important issues, misunderstandings, and improperly trained leaders, are just a few of the…
The most important skill you can build on in your life is your listening skills. And yet … The single biggest issue negatively impacting most work environments and relationships is … poor listening skills. So why is listening so hard? Listening requires that we stop our internal mind chatter and focus on listening to the other person.