Over the years, I’ve talked with thousands of people about servant leadership. Every so often somebody will come up to me after a speech and say to me, “You know, Ken, the style of leadership you just talked about is exactly the way I’ve been leading people for years—I just didn’t know there was a…
The quest for high performance may be at an all-time high. With the COVID-19 pandemic turning things upside down, some people are struggling to get through the day—but others continue to thrive. How do they do it? Brendon Burchard’s best-selling book High Performance Habits offers many answers to that question. Through extensive original research and…
Dear Madeleine, I just started what is probably the last decade of my career. I am settling into a new role after being promoted to an EVP spot that reports directly to the CEO. Sometimes I sit in my office at home—although at some point it will be a nice office on the executive floor—and…
Hi Madeleine, I just got off the phone and immediately realized that I need some help. I spoke to an employee in a way I am ashamed of. I didn’t yell or flip my lid, but I was curt, demanding, and unsympathetic, and I interrupted him several times. I have some things going on in…
Dear Madeleine, I am so frustrated with what I am calling the “in-person addiction” in my new company. I started here two months before COVID sent everyone home. It was very much a traditional “everyone comes to the office” place before that. I am surrounded by people who are still struggling with the virtual aspect…
The rapid onset of COVID-19 forced all of us in the leadership and talent development space to quickly create new ways of thinking, learning, and working; it affected every fiber of our world. In essence, the pandemic has forced the birth of new ways of doing just about everything, from parenting to schooling to working.…
Dear Madeleine, I am a division leader for a family-owned manufacturing company. The family members have somewhat antiquated views and are not particularly socially sensitive. My challenge is how to respond to the pronouns I’m seeing on recent email. For example, I am now seeing She/Her or He/Him on email signatures and video conference meetings…
If you’re like millions of other people, you’ve been working remotely either part or full-time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Literally overnight, teams were challenged with finding new ways to communicate and collaborate, and the bonds of trust those teams had established were put to the test. High performing teams thrive on trust…
Dear Madeleine, It still will be months until my company invites us all back to work in the office, so until then, we are all WFH. I miss my work friends and the hallway conversations that helped us deal with situations on the fly. I definitely don’t miss the commute or having to make myself…
The quality of a company’s customer service affects its reputation as well as its bottom line. Customer service done well raises an organization’s image in the public eye and attracts new revenue. Customer service done poorly does the opposite. When an organization delivers with such excellence and consistency that its service reputation becomes a competitive…
The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new partnership with bestselling author Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Institute is bringing the concepts from his book High Performance Habits to organizations around the world. In his book Burchard teaches six habits and corresponding practices that differentiate high performers from average performers. Partnering with researchers at the University of California and…
With his first two books, Never Eat Alone and Who’s got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi taught us the importance of building collaborative relationships. In his latest book, Leading Without Authority, Ferrazzi reinvents the art of collaboration to break down silos, transform teams, and improve overall performance of individuals. He explains that in a world of…
Dear Madeleine, I have a new boss who just offered me the role of lead for a team I have been on for about seven months. Our former lead (who, frankly, wasn’t great at leading) left suddenly a month ago. In the leadership vacuum I kind of stepped up, and nobody seemed to mind. In…
Dear Madeleine, I have a new team member who is constantly melting down. Our whole team is under a lot of pressure, and we’ve had to put our heads down to get the work out. Everyone has been able to do this—including me—except for my new team member who needs to be talked down from…
Dear Madeleine, My boss recently left the company. It was very sudden—I can’t tell if he left on his own or if he was fired. We had a good relationship, so I would have thought I would be more in the know. Anyway, my boss’s boss asked me to fill in until they find a…
