Difficult executives are the bane of their peers and a major drag on the energy of their bosses. Unintentional Jerk The “unintentional jerk” is a particular type of difficult executive. They have the best of intentions and firmly believe that they are doing what is best for their company or team. However, they leave a trail Read More >
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Why Good Companies Fail: Catalysts, Reasons & Interventions
The economy is tough, but is getting better. I hear it from most of my C-Level clients. Now, the tone is, “We need to gear up so that we are not left behind as we emerge from the pandemic.” If you’ve been fortunate, you’ve built a good, perhaps “great” company that has weathered this crisis and Read More >
Conflict at Work: an advantage
An important ingredient for business success is to hire smart, confident, and assertive people. However, when you do, you’re sure to have conflict. It’s impossible to put a bunch of intelligent, self-assured people together without them bumping heads. In fact, if there isn’t conflict, then something may be very wrong. Nothing creative ever happens in Read More >
Parlay Collective Intelligence: Through Engendering Trust & Accountability
Business success depends upon team success. In today’s business it’s obvious…or it should be, that each of us has only a part of the expertise or information we need to get our jobs done. However, success is not about gathering resources to you. The American independent, entrepreneurial spirit can only go so far these days. Read More >
5 Steps to Creative Thinking
Recently, with the downturn in the economy precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve observed a corresponding downturn in business peoples’ ability to think creatively. Ironically, right at the time when more creativity is most needed. Creative thinking is the economy’s fuel – discovery, invention, and entrepreneurism. Geniuses produce because they think fluently and flexibly.Michael Michalko Read More >
Toxic Colleagues: Dealing with Their Negativity
In any organization, there are some who are opposed to any change, even positive change. They have often worked within the same structure for years, and it provides their comfort zone. They can be toxic colleagues. Most people, though, are resistive to change not because they actively oppose development, but because they are simply anxious. Read More >
Take a Free Leadership Assessment
A recent executive briefing I wrote titled, “Six Traits of Effective Leadership,” elicited many responses. One response predominated and that went something like this, “Well Carl, those are great traits to aspire to and it’s easy to say, ‘Sure…that’s me.’ However, if I don’t want to fool myself is there a quick and dirty way Read More >
8 Tips for Spurring Innovation
Steven Johnson is an author credited with the keen ability to examine the intersection of science, technology and personal experience in his work. In 2010, he did the same on stage in his TED Talk: Where Good Ideas Come From. In it, he said, “If you look at history, innovation doesn’t come just from giving people Read More >