Leadership

Posts with the ‘Leadership’ tag

Compliant vs. Committed Teams

My last 5 years leading sales teams I noticed a shift in our corporate culture. Because of increased regulations corporate compliance became a mantra throughout the organization. Playing within the rules is a given in business. But, the increased communication around compliance had a negative side effect. Compliance became a goal in and of itself. […]

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The Best Employee Retention Strategy

People couldn’t believe he jumped to another company.  Tom was an all-star salesman who won multiple sales awards over the last 5 years.  He earned sizable raises year after year and large bonuses.  It didn’t make sense to some. Tom called me multiple times during his final 6 months with the company.  He did not […]

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Platform Skills–Getting Noticed

If a blogger/consultant screams on the internet does anyone notice?  I was wondering when I left my comfortable job in the corporate world if people would hear me when I screamed. I read a lot about consulting in the months before starting my company and in the months since.  There was a lot of great […]

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Alignment of A Low Maintenance Team: Operate Consistently

My son saw a quote this week that said, “Metta World Peace is the dirtiest player since Ron Artest.”  We both laughed about that one.  But just claiming a name like World Peace or Low Maintenance Team, does not ensure you act like your title. Look, I am not a genius or a visionary guru […]

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Are Your Values Valuable?

“At Acme Inc. our core values are Integrity, Trust, Innovation and Community.” That statement or something similar can be found on just about any organizational website.  Most companies and individuals believe having values is important. They say it.  So it must be true…Right? Just because a contestant on American Idol claims they can sing doesn’t […]

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New Leaders On New Teams: Step 5

Any time a new ingredient is added to a cookie recipe, the flavor of that cookie changes and can’t be changed back. I cannot undo it.  The cook can add chocolate chips or pecans-Dark chocolate or milk chocolate. The recipe is usually an intentional combination of ingredients.  However, once one ingredient changes, the flavor of […]

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To Lead A Low Maintenance Team You Must: Surrender Self

All leaders would love to have a low maintenance team (LMT).  A LMT allows a leader to focus on the big things and avoid the day to day hassles that could and should be handled at lower levels.  When a leader does that, the leader and the team are more engaged and burnout and turnover […]

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New Leaders on New Teams: Step 1

I learned many things during 15 years in sales leadership.  I took over teams that were high functioning and low functioning.  I took over teams that were full of rookies and teams that were full of tenured people.  No matter the situation, I always learned more from my mistakes than I did from my successes. […]

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Leaders of Character: West Point’s Way

Headline:  West Point, The Best Public College in America — US News and World Report in 2011.  My alma mater opened in 1802 as an engineering school.  In 2011 it was ranked third in the nation for undergraduate engineering, still lockstep with its 200-year-old original purpose.  But at its heart, West Point is a leadership school. The primary […]

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Coaching: 7 Documentation Tips-Learned The Hard Way

Though I was trained to lead at West Point and led men in combat as a lieutenant in the Army, I was still a baby when it came to recognizing a problem on my team, coaching it and documenting it appropriately in the corporate world. The Story I hired Tory myself (name changed).  He had […]

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