“Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” was a quiz show that ran on Fox for several seasons. Each episode featured contestants trying to answer ten questions, taken from elementary school textbooks, with a prize of $1 million for anyone who answered all ten correctly. Over the course of 86 episodes, only two contestants – […] Read more… Read More»
You know how the famously dim-witted Little Red Riding Hood eventually busts the Big Bad Wolf for being an imposter? “My, Grandma, what big teeth you have!” and all that? Well, if little Red were active on social today, she might say something like this to the wolves she busted online: “My, Grandma, what a […] Read more… Read More»
“[Hierarchies] are not very good at mobilizing effort, at inspiring people to go above and beyond.” Gary Hamel The ubiquitous organizational hierarchy is a relic. It’s heaving from over use and exhaustion. It slows communication. It slows decision-making. It slows input. It discriminates against new talent and advocates for the familiar. Productivity slides backwards. Fresh […] Read more… Read More»
You’ve read about how many people in the US are working “part-time” – You’ve read about how people are not being hired but are now being engaged as “contingent” workers. Now, ask yourself – what else do you need to know about the rise of contingent professionals in the workplace? Four facts about the emergent […] Read more… Read More»
How many times a week do you ask the question, “Why do they keep doing that?” about someone else’s behavior at work? We often find ourselves bewildered at other people’s insistence on behaving in a manner that has repeatedly led them to fail. Or at a minimum, they waste time and energy and annoy everyone around them. […] Read more… Read More»
We hear the talk about “actively disengaged” employees. What about the organizations that actively resist providing an environment for engagement? When we’re not talking about the work itself, there are basically two directions from which employers should be addressing employee engagement: The conditions they can actively provide their employees for the purpose of engaging them. […] Read more… Read More»
Millennials, to do great work you are at a slight disadvantage. Too many older coworkers rely on stereotypes of you and your generation. Many see you as a threat to the bedrock on which their careers were fashioned. Unfortunately the threat creates a barrier for you to do great work. “Experts also expect that constantly […] Read more… Read More»
I didn’t start out in corporate life. By the time I got my first gig as a corporate trainer for a large train-the-trainer firm, I had worked as a theatre director/performer/acting coach/mediation trainer/ university professor/diversity specialist/community storyteller/AIDS activist/Middle East peace dialoguer. And I had spent a year on a remote Caribbean island, becoming a windsurfer […] Read more… Read More»
Welcome to the ecosystem war, where we are all pawns. Have you noticed what all the social sites are doing? Oh, and a lot of the less-social tech companies, too? They’re all vying for our attention, and our time. It’s driving me to distraction. Anyone with me? The logic is undeniable. At work or at […] Read more… Read More»
Leaders must make a number of important decisions every day. You would expect that through repetition and practice they would continue to take their decision-making capability to higher levels of proficiency. However, after working with more than 50 senior executive teams of Global 2000 companies, I’ve found it is one of the top three areas […] Read more… Read More»