Perspectives
Mauritius: The Island That Spoke NLP Before NLP Existed
I was sitting with my wife in a small Mauritian café when an elderly Mauritian gentleman joined our table. The kind of man who carries the calm of many cultures in his voice. Within minutes, he’d built instant rapport with us. Not through rehearsed charm, but through...
6 Steps Towards a Clarity Cleanup
Along with the rapid pace of change and uncertainty in today’s workplace environment, we have noticed an epidemic of sorts — the dire need for a clarity cleanup. With leaders and teams moving so quickly, there is less time spent on the fundamental steps of defining a...
The Value of Pause
This week I had the opportunity to join a group of women for a Wild Morning retreat, part of the Women in the Wild program from Vibrant Living and Leadership. It was only two hours. Two, glorious hours of quiet, connection, community and reflection. We sat together....
The Five Whys of Taylor Swift
One of the things I like about design thinking is the vast array of tools available in the proverbial toolbox, particularly the ones that help uncover underlying themes. These tools allow us to understand and empathize with people in meaningful, human ways. One...
The Workman’s Approach to Innovation: A Lesson from Chris Stapleton
In a recent interview, Grammy-winning artist Chris Stapleton shared insights into his creative process that extend beyond the realm of music and into the broader landscape of innovation. His words shed light on two crucial aspects of innovation: the intentional,...
The Feelings of Fall
Fall is an interesting time of year. The bright, inspiring colors of the midwest followed by the gray Ohio skies can play tricks with your energy and your outlook. With all of its complexity, Fall is still my favorite time of year. The crisp air, glorious colors and...
What we can learn from Rick Rubin on communication, boundaries, and wanting people to like us
“Can we make it less cold?” I was listening to legendary record producer Rick Rubin’s appearance on the Dax Shepard podcast, and Rick uttered that simple phrase. Out loud. I could feel my body tense up, and the runaway train that is my brain was well out of the...
It’s Time to Clear the Clutter
I have long advocated for focus and simplicity. The desire to purge that which is no longer useful (thank you Marie Condo) has led to evaluation and action across every area of my life. Does this bring me joy? Does this still serve me? How can I continue to decrease...
Supporting Sustainability Leaders
When I was in graduate school at Case Western Reserve University in the now MPOD program, one of our core areas of study was sustainability. It was my first exposure to concepts like the triple bottom line and the beautiful book Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough....
Gifts
I was about 15 years into my career when my coach asked me what my super power was – silence. I had always struggled to identify my gift, my super power, what made me special. My older sister and others were such naturals. Their gifts were so apparent. She is clearly...
Email: The Great Unburdening
Over the past 2 years we have had so many conversations with clients regarding email. The once useful communication tool, today, seems to be a primary cause of stress and frustration. Email combined with other “helpful” communication tools are inundating employees and...
Words Matter
If you have spent any amount of time with me you have probably noticed that words matter to me. One of my most impactful memories from graduate school at Case Western Reserve University was when David Cooperrider introduced the idea that words create worlds. I have...
Getting Curious About Culture
I have always been fascinated with culture. Observing and trying to understand what makes an organization tick. Watching people within and around an organization and noting their behaviors. The norms. The language. The movement. The space. The assembly of these parts...
The Super League: How Failing to Understand All Stakeholders Torpedoes Innovation
My only real exposure to soccer came in the second grade, where I spent a brief period of time running around in the bee swarm that is a childrens' soccer game. The majority of that season, however, was spent in in chicken pox isolation, so it was a bit odd to get a...
What is Design Thinking?
What is Design Thinking? Design thinking is not so much "a thing", but more so "a way". Below are sourced excerpts that explain design thinking in more detail and provide links to original articles. "Design thinking is an innovative problem-solving process rooted in a...
Design Thinking, Organizational Development, and Dungeons & Dragons
The idea for this article has been percolating in my head for many months, and it’s something I’ve been hesitant to write for a long time. But here it is. I play Dungeons and Dragons. Even better, I believe that D&D has tremendous power to make organizations...
Change Takes Everyone
A culture change isn’t any different than other change initiative and benefits from involving the entire organization in the conversation – defining, designing and making change. How can you get your entire system involved? Town Hall Meetings Surveys Focus Groups Task...
Making Mistakes Matures the Brain
Saw this Forbes article and it got me thinking about the Miles Davis quote, "If you're not making mistakes, it's a mistake." Too often, failure is positioned as a negative instead of a positive step forward toward inevitable success. "Making mistakes matures the...
What Does Your Organization Sound Like? Part II: Harmony, Jacob Collier, and Herbie Hancock
I discovered Jacob Collier recently, and then I saw he had made this video about harmony for Wired — and it features the legendary Herbie Hancock. What a fantastic breakdown of a complicated topic – and done in a way that resonates with each target audience. There is...
What Does Your Organization Sound Like? Part I: Equalization and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody
Recently I had a chance to catch up with the brilliant and insightful Valdis Krebs, who does all sorts of fascinating work on social network analysis. After one if his talks in Europe, an attendee approached him and posed this query: “It’s great to see what an...
Stop Weaponizing HR Assessments
I love HR assessments. They provide interesting insights to personalities, behaviors and skills. They make for interesting conversation around the water cooler or dinner table. But while lots of organizations run assessments, many of those same organizations are...
A Punch is Just a Punch — Leadership Lessons from Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee once said, “a punch is just a punch.” (Not to be confused with Freud’s apocryphal quote “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”) Bruce was essentially talking about the learning process and the winding path to expertise. The journey to becoming an expert...