Lisa was bright, with proven results, and was a leader in trend sighting and innovation. She was also quirky and occasionally silly with clients. Her style didn’t fit in with the culture of her ad agency, which had traditional consumer packaged goods clients. As one of the largest in the industry, Lisa’s firm approached their …
From a coach’s vantage point, I wanted to share what we can learn from last week’s election about interpersonal communication, perspective and strategy. Management and The “Troops”: Last week we saw “the Establishment” (think Management), challenged by disenfranchised voters (think “Millenials” or internal groups with divergent interests). Managers are under enormous pressure to get things …
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Wheeeee! September felt like getting sucked into a vortex. Then somehow October feels like everyone got started without me. Nowadays we have to roll with the punches of change and keeping moving, even when we feel behind the eight-ball. Many of my clients are in acquisition or re-org mode, where this is especially true. How …
As CEO of a (very small) business, I now understand the incredible challenges associated with having to allocate limited resources and communicate effectively to my colleagues and clients. It’s a lot. Sometimes I blush when I think of how hard I was on some of my managers. I assumed they should know everything and became …
This summer my family went on a 45+ hour road trip. (Here we are at Niagara Falls). I know, I know, a great opportunity for quality family time. But one or two books on tape while the kids watched a video. C’mon, it’s OK, right? Somewhere between mile 1700 and mile 1850, on the road …
As a small business owner, no one is leaning over you generating your To Do list. It seems like a dream, but being in charge of your own time takes more discipline. In my first years of business, I would say to friends, “I can’t talk. My boss is breathing down my neck.” They would …
A client recently asked for help with a 5-year career plan and I realized it might be a good thing to share. My approach goes from the inside out. We have to get clear on who we are and what we want, then turn to the job/career market and see what is possible. Here goes: …
The Ethics Column for BBC Capital recently approached me about a dilemma many small business owners face: what do you do when the hours you have spent on a project run over the estimated time you promised the client? Do you pad hours? No. Swallow the loss? Hopefully not. Ideally, you have cultivated a relationship …
I understand innovation in a cutting-edge industry like Computing, but it took me a while to figure it out in a mature, saturated industry like Cosmetics. During my 18 years in Cosmetics, I heard people talking about innovation all the time. Eventually, I understood: half of innovation is finding ingredients, delivery systems and product forms …
The Nike slogan “Just Do It” is a very powerful call to action. It’s simple: “just” tells us to forget about all the excuses, and “do it” is meant to get us off the couch and moving. Yet how many times have I heard this, looked outside to see that it’s cold and raining, and …
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