The world has changed—in profound, fundamental ways. How can you and your team use innovation to seize the ensuing opportunities? You start by asking different questions.
If you're a video person, I lay it all out in the video below. If reading is more your thing, skip the video and hop straight to the transcript below!
APR
2021
A friend of mine has a cat that she affectionately refers to as her “barnacle,” because he’s always there. Wherever she goes, there he is. The kitchen, the living room, the office, on the stairs—he is constantly underfoot. Sometimes literally.
That’s kind of endearing in a cat. Not so much in a boss.
Nobody wants to have the boss constantly hovering around, looking over their shoulders, meowing for food (or the boss equivalent). In fact, here’s how to make your team hate ...
Continue Reading →APR
2017
How to Be a Great Little-Known Leader
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John Wooden. Nelson Mandela. Richard Branson. Abraham Lincoln.
Great leaders, all of them. Their words and actions inspired and motivated thousands upon thousands of people.
But probably not you. At least, not directly.
You never met Abraham Lincoln. (And, if you did, you need to contact the Guiness Book of World Records people immediately.) And, although I may not know you personally, I’m guessing that you’ve never had any of the other three on your speed dial either.
Sure, you’ve read their words and ...
Continue Reading →APR
2017
Your next great idea will not come to you out of thin air.
I can say this with near 100% certainty because that’s not how ideas work. That breakthrough idea—the one that will make you rich and famous by Thursday—will not be created in a vacuum. More likely, it’ll be the result of a collision. A collision of dots.
Huh?
Let me explain. Creativity (which is simply the process of coming up with ideas) is all about connecting dots. These dots can be ...
Continue Reading →APR
2017
What Are You Reading?
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Quick quiz: What do all of the following people have in common?
- Bill Gates
- Warren Buffett
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Elon Musk
- Mark Cuban
- Oprah Winfrey
Here are some possible answers:
- They’re all financially set for life, as long as they die before their 25,732nd birthday (although Bill Gates could probably make it another 250,000 years if he budgeted).
- They’re all wicked smart.
- They all like coffee ice cream. [Full disclosure: I don’t know if this last one is correct. And anyway, I said these were possible answers, not necessarily accurate]
But here’s ...
Continue Reading →JUN
2016
The Question You Need to Start Your Day With
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Does this scene sound familiar?
It’s the end of the day, and you’re sitting at your desk. As you shuffle some papers around for the hundredth time, you think to yourself, “Well, I got pretty much nothing done today. Eight hours of wasted time that I’ll never get back.”
You’ve had days like this, right? I know I have. And honestly, they feel pretty crappy. Or rather, I feel pretty crappy when I have a day like that. But mostly I feel ...
Continue Reading →JUN
2016
Learning Leadership from a Bad Boss
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Most of us have experienced bad bosses at some time in our lives. Maybe you’ve had one in the past; maybe you have one now. Maybe you were one in the past; maybe you are one now. So, for most of us, the question isn’t if we’ll run into one of these disagreeable creatures, but when.
But there’s a better question regarding bad bosses, and it’s this:
What can you learn from them?
The leader is frustrated. “I don’t know why I’m having such trouble getting the team to buy-in to the company vision! It couldn’t be simpler!”
Then he shows me the company vision. It’s five paragraphs long. It contains sentences like, “To enhance the long-term value of the investment dollars entrusted to us by our shareholders,” and “To consistently strive to improve efficiency and productivity through learning, sharing, and implementing best practices.” It reeks of having been written by a committee—a committee ...
Continue Reading →JUN
2016
5 Ways to Get a Creative Idea
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Are you stuck in a creative rut? Do you need an idea—now—but nothing’s coming? Don’t worry, your creativity is still there. Your brain is just taking a little “creativity catnap.” Here are a few ways to wake it up again and get those creative juices flowing.
1. Read an article. [You: “About what?” Me: “About anything!” You: “Huh?” Me: ...
JUN
2016
Are You Playing to Your Strengths Every Day?
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Yesterday I was the closing keynoter for a conference of credit union leaders. One of the speakers who was on before me mentioned what was, to me, a startling statistic. He said that the average credit union CEO spends roughly 60% of his or her day just dealing with regulatory red tape. For the record (in case you’re not a credit union professional), this is not the best or most productive use of the CEO’s time. Which begs the question:
Are ...
Continue Reading →MAY
2016