February 13, 2012
Personalization of conflict, as in “If you think that way, there’s not just something wrong with your ideas, there’s something wrong with you,” and one-dimensional, “I’m right, you’re wrong,” unyielding, tak...
Read More
January 23, 2012
It’s a long way culturally and historically from 19th-century Germany to 2012 Greensboro. However, after reflecting on a recent lunch with our new mayor, Robbie Perkins, I was reminded of the political insight of Otto von Bismarck, first chancellor...
Read More
December 12, 2011
As we move toward 2012, there is a sign that ought to adorn the chambers of our Guilford County commissioners and Greensboro City Council. It should, in bold print, display the enduring wisdom of the swamp philosopher Pogo as penned by cartoonist Walt Kel...
Read More
November 14, 2011
Sometimes our assumptions and perspectives need to be shaken up and tested lest they become stale and irrelevant. One result can be, to use behavioral science jargon, a “reframing of our paradigms.”
Read More
May 9, 2010
Organizational leadership is much more complex, gut-wrenching, and emotionally draining during times of economic decline than in boom times. I've written several books and numerous articles on leading organizations in ways that will help them survive the...
Read More
April 11, 2010
A newly appointed general manager began his first meeting with his staff by showing them two large glasses side-by-side on the conference table. There was a third, smaller object on the table, covered by a cloth napkin. Both glasses were filled to the mi...
Read More
March 21, 2010
We have two dead and smelly elephants lying on our community living room floor. We tiptoe around them, don't directly discuss them, and allow them to taint the culture we need to reach our potential.
Read More
February 14, 2010
We all live within a culturally constructed bubble that defines our sense of reality and our comfort zone. It's hard to see the bubble when we're inside it but occasionally something punctures it and gives us a different perspective. The earthquake in Hai...
Read More
January 10, 2010
It's a new year. We have a new City Council and a new city manager but they face the same old problems: Expenses are up, revenues are down and everyone seems to have his or her hand out.
Read More
December 20, 2009
It's that time again. Days are short, nights are cold. The holiday season is upon us, but I'm struggling to conjure up the requisite cheer and optimism. I don't think I'm alone in my attempt to reconcile the spirit and promise of the winter solstice-orie...
Read More
November 15, 2009
A number of years ago, I learned a painful lesson by wasting my time and a client's money by treating the external symptoms and ignoring the underlying disease.
Read More
October 4, 2009
With all seats contested, once again voters will be faced with choices in the City Council primary Tuesday. Paradoxically, candidates campaign as individuals, but in our system their effectiveness is dependent on their ability to work as a team and...
Read More
July 5, 2009
Although a few may deny it, leaders in both public and private organizations are deeply concerned about their legacies and stewardship. How will they be remembered? Have they been good stewards of their organizations and the people? Is either better or...
Read More
April 26, 2009
I first noticed it in the Army. I'd been in boot camp for two hours when, along with a couple hundred of my fellow recruits, I was herded into a line to enjoy my first Army free lunch.
Read More
March 22, 2009
The first wave of layoffs devastated the textile manufacturing base of our region and the second is tearing apart the financial services infrastructure of Charlotte's economy. That's just the very tip of the iceberg. We are not only experiencing a global...
Read More
February 22, 2009
Having confided in me that the current layoff provided a good opportunity to get rid of those "overpaid do-nothings" in marketing, the newly appointed general manager stood on a table in the employee cafeteria and addressed his new employees. This is a pa...
Read More
January 4, 2009
In the Chinese calendar, 2009 is the year of the ox. Given the state of the economy, a more fitting representation for this new year would be a chicken. Chicken Little, to be more exact. In the tale, Chicken Little misinterprets an acorn falling on her he...
Read More
December 14, 2008
From November’s historic election to the ongoing meltdown of our financial system, we are living in “interesting” times. Here are the Top 10 items on my holiday gift list for this noteworthy year.
Read More
November 9, 2008
It's finally over. After more than a year of primaries, debates, conventions, speeches, prognostication, talk show jokes, "Saturday Night Live" spoofs and nauseating waves of deceptive and shallow attack ads, we, for better or worse, now have a new presid...
Read More
October 26, 2008
In a past consulting project, I encountered a feisty but creative branch manager whose firm had just been taken over by a large corporation. The only adornment in his Spartan office was a large, framed caricature of a cow on the wall behind his desk. What...
Read More
September 7, 2008
After his considerable professional and academic credentials were painstakingly extolled during his introduction by the firm's president, a newly hired director of research both astonished and endeared himself to his future employees by slowly tearing his...
Read More
August 10, 2008
In his 1971 hit song, “Imagine,” John Lennon asked his fellow “dreamers” to imagine a world of sharing with no hunger, greed, wars, countries, religions or possessions. The utopian idealism of the ’70s has suffered many reality checks over the y...
Read More
July 13, 2008
The rallying cry for change by our current political candidates conjures up the familiar metaphor of rearranging the deck chairs while the Titanic is sinking. A less trite and perhaps more apt metaphor was developed by a group of managers when I asked the...
Read More
