Every now and then you hear a story that immediately brings a tear to your eye and renews your faith in mankind. This is one of those stories. I was in the airport in Calgary, Alberta, waiting for a flight home and started talking to an elderly man who was waiting for the same flight. …
A survey that The Ken Blanchard Companies conducted together with Training magazine last summer asked 800 readers their thoughts on who they felt was responsible for 12 different job, organization, and relationship factors that lead to a passionate work environment. Respondents could assign responsibility for each factor to either the senior leaders in the organization,…
People are stuck in place, not particularly happy with the way things are, but staying put because they don’t have any better options. It’s a “quit and stay” mentality that has been hard for leaders to address. The tools they’ve used in the past to motivate performance—pay raises, promotions, etc.—are no longer available. Instead of…
Join best-selling author and consultant Chris Edmonds for a complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Chris will be exploring three actionable steps leaders can take to self-diagnose, assess, and change unwanted behaviors in a special presentation on The Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make and How to Avoid Them. The webinar…
When people work in isolation—or with incomplete information—their imagination can run away with them (and usually not in a good way.) Here’s an example. Has something like this ever happened to you? My wife has started a new job recently. Like many people, it involves working in a cubicle interacting with customers primarily by telephone…
In his book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins found that leaders at the most successful companies shared two traits—a fierce resolve toward achieving organizational goals and a deep sense of personal humility. At the best companies, leaders worked tirelessly to keep the goals of the organization ahead of thoughts of personal accomplishment. The result…
My colleagues Chris Edmonds and Lisa Zigarmi have written a new book called Positivity at Work. The book is chock-full of 140 ideas for creating a more positive work culture. They obviously both have a lot to say on the subject but you’d experience something completely different if you spoke to either of them in…
In their new book Positivity At Work, authors Chris Edmonds and Lisa Zigarmi identify five aspects of a positive work environment that lead to higher levels of well-being. That’s a hot topic these days as organizations deal with the general burnout prevalent in so many workplaces after three years of belt-tightening and a single-minded focus…
The topic of well-being in the workplace is getting a lot of attention right now. The January/February issue of The Harvard Business Review featured articles on “The Value of Happiness – How Employee Well-being Drives Profits.” Since people spend more time at work than in any other single environment, it behooves leaders to create organizations that foster…
Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States, a time to reflect back on the life and teachings of the great civil rights leader and activist. While most of us will not be called to engage in social activism on the scale that Dr. King did, we can still have a great impact…