Remember the book, All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? Perhaps not, unless you are a seasoned vet like I am, but the premise is still sound. Today I was reminded of the power of principle centered leadership. This morning I attended a meeting of the Manufacturers Alliance, a group of 300 or so manufacturers here in Minnesota who share best practices, lead training seminars and otherwise help their peers get better. The keynote speaker was Tom Tiller, CEO of Polaris Industries. Tom’s message was so crystal clear I need to share it. Polaris, he told us, has increased its value by 150 times in the last… Read More
Continue ReadingRecessions Are Tactical Problems, Recruiting Is Strategic
Steven Rothberg over at CollegeRecruiter.com provides a money quote in his post Why Today’s College Students Need Not Fear Exploding Offers. Obviously, Steven’s market is geared towards college students, but this paragraph is applicable to all businesses when it comes to hiring (emphasis mine): The recession of 2001-03 was worse than the recession of 2008 and employers are looking backwards in order to better understand what to do as they move forwards. Although many and perhaps most employers have scaled back their college hiring plans for this spring, there’s little talk of exploding offers. More employers realize that recessions are tactical problems and college recruiting is strategic. You don’t solve… Read More
Continue ReadingWhy Communication Matters
I’m presently working on some leadership projects with our customers so these topics are probably on my mind more than usual. ManageSmarter.com presents an article Communication for Managers 101 that provides 5 steps for better communication between managers and employees. Some of the suggestions are rudimentary, but we encounter many managers who simply do not follow these basic tenets. The reason why good communication is important, in case you had to ask (emphasis mine): Harvard Business Publications recently confirmed what many have always known: effective communication is the number one skill for executives to develop. … A Gallup poll of more than 1 million U.S. workers concluded that the No.… Read More
Continue ReadingLeading Out Of Our Status Quo
Being in the final stages of strategic planning right now with my company (following the establishment of a Vision statement last year) I just can’t leave Derrick’s post alone. He is absolutely correct with his assumption that many “visioning” exercises are empty of real meaning or impact. As any good business consultant will tell you, execution of the vision and the strategy is a lot harder than crafting the words. Most companies do not follow through and get any real value. It sounds like that’s what Derrick experienced (as I have in several previous lives). But, for a company like ours that is transitioning from a manufacturing mentality to become… Read More
Continue ReadingVision Statement vs. Leadership
Color me skeptical, but I am just not a fan of vision statements, mission statements, company statements and whatever else is the latest iteration. I prefer P&L statements. I could be wrong on this so I’ll provide an article from BusinessWeek.com titled Vision Decisions. The opening graph: Feeling the pressure to prove they have what former President George H. W. Bush famously termed “the vision thing,” they drag their staffs through formal visioning sessions. The resulting empty exercises yield “vision statements” to which employees periodically genuflect, but they have no operative meaning. The net result is anti-inspirational. The purpose of vision, after all, is to inspire: vision provides motivation through… Read More
Continue Reading7 Signs You Are A Bad Boss
I thought the article was going to be anecdotal and humorous, but it is actually quite insightful. Inc.com offers this article – The Office: The Bad and the Ugly – which is well reasoned. Here are the 7: 1. The staff has developed guidelines for dealing with you and quietly passes them to new employees. “Never suggest that there might be another way of doing something,” they might say. Or “Act self-deprecating so he doesn’t feel threatened.” 2. You have one or two fanatical acolytes. Yes, such devotion may be a testament to your fabulousness. But often when a boss is perceived as universally loathed, the staff opportunist offers herself… Read More
Continue ReadingWisdom From Sports Illustrated
I read many things across the web including certain columnists from Sports Illustrated. Peter King writes an insider’s view to professional football that I find fascinating. Plus, the guy is a coffee (actually lattes) addict like myself so I always appreciate his weekly coffee tips. This quote from his article last week caught my attention: But I will say one thing about the firing: It’s always dangerous when you start polling players and people in the building about the job the head coach is doing. If you’ve got a conviction about the coach, act on your conviction, and the beliefs of your closest associates, like president Dick Cass and GM… Read More
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