My friend and I got into an interesting discussion of CHANGE the other day. We ended up sharing thoughts about the definition of CHANGE. Obviously, the word 'change' has a very broad definition, including: make different, alter, make radically different, transform, replace with another, shift from one to another, etc1 When it comes to business, we must be able to provide a definition of CHANGE that is: clear and easily understood accepted by the business people who hear and see us use the word ...
Can you imagine what it would be like to be an ant specialist? I mean, can you imagine making a career of studying ants - being a myrmecologist. That's what E. O. Wilsondid. What started as a study of ants led E. O. Wilson to some very-interesting conclusions on a variety of topics. He wrote a number of books, including 'On Human Nature'. About human beings, E. O. Wilson said, "We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom." He went on to forecast, "The world henceforth will be ...
Some airplanes are still powered by engines and propellers. Sometimes airplane engines fail and airplane propellers stop working. This is a problem. It is a problem that has only 2 solutions: get the propeller working or land the plane safely. When I took some flying lessons 10 years ago, we used a little single-engine plane. Not that I was nervous or anything... I asked my instructor, "What happens if our engine fails and our propeller stops turning?" And, I asked about the relative safety o...
As part of our BIG PICTURE, Spirited Leaders has 5 Values. One of those 5 Values is: Labours of Enjoyment Enthusiasm. In simple words, we want our People to at least enjoy their work. Why? We have several reasons, here are 3: work Enjoyment means People are putting theirStrengthsto productive use, work Enjoyment paves the path for work Enthusiasm, which in turn paves the path for work Passion, and work Enjoyment results in full wages. Full Wages...what does that mean? It means People, ...
The most-successful leaders take regulartime outs to ask themselves tough questions. The main reason they ask themselves questions is to better understand how well they are performing as leaders. And the most-successful leaders write out the answers to these questions so they do not have to rely 100% on their memories when they perform periodic reviews of their leadership performance. What sorts of questions do the most-successful leaders ask themselves? Answer: here is a sampling of... Some Q...
On November 17, 2010, I posted a short 'blog' titled 'Plucky Pithy'... here's a link to that Thought Post. Heading into the New Year, 2012, we decided to summarize our Top 5 Thought Posts for the last 4 years. It was interesting to note - of my well-over-300Thought Posts the one titled 'Plucky Pithy' ranked #2 in views. That means, of the articles I have posted 'Plucky Pithy' has received more hits than all but one. That's very interesting! Considering 'social media'...it is interesting. Cons...
Most people have trouble making changes. Even when faced with the choice of 'change or die' most people are unable to change. I have heard experts say that for quite some time. And, I know from personal experience and from observing other people it can be difficult to make certain changes. So, let's accept that as a fact of Nature. What should we do about that? The answer depends upon the future you desire. In the future, do you want: changes for the better? no changes? changes for the wor...
The best of mentoring happens 'naturally' when an eager-to-learnbusiness person 'connects' with a more-experiencedbusiness person who is eager to teach. For both people, mentoring is of value. This type of 'natural' mentoring tends to happen in cycles: over time, the student of the present becomes the teacher of the future. One of my favourite examples of 'natural' mentoring isthe story of 25-year-old Napoleon Hill meeting steel-baron Andrew Carnegie in 1908. At the time, Andrew Carnegie was well into...
You know what gets your attention? Pleasing and beautiful things, Surprising things, and Things that are out of place Those 3 things get your attention. But, those 3 things sure have a tough time getting your attention! You know why those 3 things have such a tough time getting your attention? Your FOCUS1 and Their COMPETITION2 ATTENTION, actually the lack of success in capturing it, has led to some rather bizarre business activity...marketing activity, social media activity, etc. ...
Business Leaders: how do you feel when your bottom line is positive, healthy, and growing? When your bottom-line profits are pretty darned good, do you feel: Terrible? or Nothing? or Pretty Darned Good? I am going to hazard a guess and say, "When your bottom-line profits are pretty darned good you feel Pretty Darned Good". So, to some degree, perhaps to a large degree, your bottom-line profits impact on how you feel. There is a cause-and-effect at play here. Good bottom lines lead to go...
