human nature

3 Things Great Leaders Know About Managing Change

January 11, 2012

Great leaders know that human beings are complex, and that change will come with time.
Learn 3 key points about leading people through change in my latest post at the Lead Change Group site.

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Featured Post on Lead Change Leadership Blog: Don’t Let Your To-Do List Override Your Good Sense

December 8, 2011

By this time you’ve heard story after story of Black Friday gone wrong.  Shoppers with a laser focus on “making the season bright” allowed themselves to be willing to hurt another to achieve their prized purchase.  What a way to start off the holiday season wrong on so many levels… read remainder of post at [...]

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Communication is a Two-Way Street. Which Way Are You Going?

November 29, 2011
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“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. -John Maxwell
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I’ve heard one too many stories here lately of ineffective or oblivious communication on the part of people who can’t afford to be bad communicators, i.e. leaders.  It shows up by them delivering a message and thinking that [...]

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The Trap of “Not Enough”

November 23, 2011
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I read a great article yesterday about how we define “enough,” and how it colors so many aspects of our life.
Though the article was not Thanksgiving-related it helped remind me that being caught up in what I lack distracts me from being grateful for what I have. And there is so much to be grateful [...]

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Managers: Now that Halloween is Over, Loosen up That Mask

November 1, 2011
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Halloween is always an interesting season for me.  Young and old get into the spirit of having fun, dressing up maybe, pretending to be someone else.
I wonder if when adults dress in costume, whatever the occasion, we aren’t actually revealing more about ourselves than we realize.  And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.   I [...]

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Leaders: Have You Found Your Tribe?

September 28, 2011
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This week my colleague, Mike Henry Sr., Chief Instigator of the Lead Change Group, interviewed me.
The Lead Change Group is a global, virtual community dedicated to instigating and mobilizing a revolution of character-based leaders.  Mike wants to allow readers to get to know contributing members like me by sharing their thoughts on the Lead Change [...]

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Treating People at Work Humanly – part 57 (She Just Won’t Get Off the Subject…)

August 23, 2011
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Yes, I said “humanly,” not humanely.  Humane treatment to me means the minimum standard, such as providing breaks, water and bathrooms.
No, I’m challenging you to take it a step further and go beyond biological needs, to higher-level human needs, such as the need to be seen, to know somebody has your back, to know there [...]

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Managers: Get Your Employees to Answer Their Own Questions

August 16, 2011
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Do you ever have people come to you at work, and want to work through a decision they already made?  Just to be clear, it’s a done deal.  They already acted on it.  But they want your take.
For one thing, it puts you between a rock and a hard place.  What if you see lots [...]

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Leaders: What Severus Snape Can Teach You About Your Employees

July 26, 2011
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[Spoiler Alert!!!  Caution, this post refers to secrets revealed in the last book and movie of the Harry Potter series.]
Given the final installment of Harry Potter (HP) is out on film, you might have noticed all these posts about what we can learn from HP about anything from leadership to personal finance to travel.
But, having [...]

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New Era Leadership Daily featured “Leaders: Stop Being So Responsible”

June 28, 2011
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“I find this in so many issues that managers bring to our coaching. It is perfectly understandable to feel responsible for “making them feel bad,” when you are delivering a message that may upset someone. Yes, you are delivering the message, but in most cases the facts of the situation exist [...]

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Managers: To Increase Performance and Productivity, Create a “3C” Environment

May 24, 2011
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I’m just finishing reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers.
I was really taken with Chapter 4 where he talks about “concerted cultivation.”  It’s a term coined by sociologist Annette Lareau to describe the specific way some parents teach their children to navigate the world successfully.
As I was taking in the behaviors Gladwell was describing, they seemed so [...]

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The 3 P’s of Exploring Your Employees’ Resistance to Change – Part 3 of 5

May 4, 2011
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Part 3 of 5 in a Series on Change Management & Employee Resistance
There is often a good reason your employees are resisting change, no matter how obnoxiously they may be expressing it.
You, their leader, are responsible for getting underneath that.  It’s not as hard as you think.  You can reach more than you may realize. [...]

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