Leadership Lessons

Hooks and Loops

Change Management, Personal Development, Innovation, Problem Solving

We are continuously faced with opportunities disguised as insoluble problems. When returning from a long hike in the woods it is common to discover that your clothes have carried home little pieces of nature—those prickly, sticky, terribly...

Vision In The Fog

Change Management, Coaching, Focusing on Results, Innovation, Problem Solving

Do not let the fog of daily minutia obscure the grandeur of your goal. On the fourth of July, 1952, Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the saltwater channel from Catalina Island to the California Coast, a distance of 26 miles.

A 20¢ Lightbulb

Change Management, Focusing on Results, Strategic Thinking, Problem Solving, Customer Focus

Always focus on the things that matter most. In December 1972, a Lockheed L-1011 jumbo jet left New York’s JFK International Airport bound for Miami, Florida. The late-night flight was uneventful until it began its initial descent into...

A Spider in Space

Change Management, Coaching, Focusing on Results, Innovation, Problem Solving

If we are to survive, we have no choice but to figure out new ways of achieving our results. A few years ago, a group of students won the opportunity to submit an experiment for a shuttle flight into space. As a result, the space shuttle carried a...

The Thick and the Thin of It

Focusing on Results, Innovation, Problem Solving, Customer Focus

Opportunities often come in unpleasant disguises that must be removed with effort and ingenuity. It had been a long, hard day for the workers at the Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was the peak of the season and the rich and...

The Farmer and the Rock

Personal Development, Focusing on Results, Strategic Thinking, Problem Solving, Time Management

The best way out of a problem is through it. There was an old farmer who, year after year, had plowed around a large and expansive rock, as had his father before him. To the farmer, the rock was a source of constant irritation. He had...

Curing Potatoes

Change Management, Focusing on Results, Innovation, Strategic Thinking, Problem Solving

Are you giving new ideas enough fresh air? In a restaurant kitchen in Des Plaines, Illinois a very concerned cook offered a sample from a batch of freshly cooked french fries. He watched with dismay as the same worried frown crossed his boss’s...

Dirty Laundry

Listening, Valuing Others, Problem Solving, Ego Management

Rarely do we see things through a "clean window." We all have blind spots. Several years ago, there was an elderly couple who would sit together each morning for breakfast. The woman often looked out her kitchen window and saw her neighbor’s...

Homing Home

Change Management, Personal Development, Coaching, Problem Solving, Ego Management

We need a fully developed skill set to overcome the challenges that come our way. If you were transported one day by air to a secluded valley and left alone without a map or compass, would you be able to find your way home? For the average,...

Don't Be Ostrich Blind

Change Management, Personal Development, Coaching, Focusing on Results, Problem Solving

Closing your eyes to risks, challenges, and threats does not make them disappear. Keep your eyes wide open and face whatever comes. An ostrich is a remarkable bird. It can’t fly, but it can do some pretty amazing things. Its long legs make it the...