Are You Going to Believe What You See or What You Hear?
When I take on client projects, I begin by getting myself organized in terms of what the desired outcomes are and what I know and need to know. One of the key components of that process is validating what the client has
We Might Not Make This Turn
Do you know what a "tiller man" is? It's a firefighter who drives the rear end of an aerial ladder (the old "hook and ladder" truck) to accommodate turning corners. The tiller is driven in the opposite direction of the
Don’t Blame Me for Telling You This
A "kangaroo court" is not a marsupial legal body, but rather an illegitimate court trying to find someone guilty of something without proper evidence or procedures. That's often the case in organizations, where blame is favored over cause and punishment over
I’ll Take Some Consulting with My Coffee
The owner of the coffee shop I frequent most mornings always has a wad of cash in his pocket, permitting me to cash a hundred dollar bill. (Dunkin' Donuts won't cash anything larger than a twenty because the local owner
The Yellow Line
When they introduced the "yellow line" superimposed on the TV screen during football games (so that you can tell where the first down marker is) my wife suddenly took an interest in the game, and began watching with me. When
The Exemplar
In the old pre-Marriott ownership days of the Ritz-Carlton, I recall being at the pool in Florida in 90° temperature. Two hotel managers in suits and ties were walking across the blazing pavement, and one stopped to pick up a
Don’t Blame Me for Pointing this Out
If everyone in leadership positions in government, business, academia, non-profits, news media, and entertainment would stop looking for "blame" and start looking for causes to correct, we'd start solving our problems more quickly and inexpensively. The problem with the "blame game"
Survey Mania
Surveys are notoriously weak sampling tools. They are self-selective, in that they usually prompt responses from those very happy and those very unhappy—but not all those people in the middle or those who are so fed up with you that
What Does It Take to Persevere to Prosperity?
It's reported this morning that the auto dealers' convention in Las Vegas is an ecstatic event because after a tough time during Covid's worst moments, things are booming now. The housing market has gone crazy. Professional services firms are doing
Moving Forward.
As you look forward and help your clients look forward post-pandemic, ask: What sustained us and we should continue nurturing and improving it? What worked fairly well, but needs improvement if it's to be useful in the future? What is clearly not capable