Which is more dangerous: a chainsaw or a limiting belief about a chainsaw? When I was too young to remember, my father rented a chainsaw to take out a large tree in our backyard. At one point, the chainsaw wound down after a cut and he lacerated the inside of his wrist–yeah, where the arteries…
One of the most common complaints I hear from business leaders is a lack of employee responsibility. Employee engagement is a huge issue in many businesses, and it’s often invisible. Employee engagement studies estimate it costs the U.S. economy $370 billion a year. I’ve noticed in the last ten years, airlines stopped apologizing for flight…
“Is this going to be on the test?” a student inevitably asks. The question used to make my blood boil, and I didn’t understand why until years later. It is in many ways the birth of employee disengagement and mediocrity, which plague workplaces, and the world, today. It’s not the student’s fault–they’re having an intuitive…
“I can’t talk with my employees about their personal problems.” Usually, when I hear people say this, they’re actually not going personal enough. The result is lost time and money while people talk around personal problems instead of addressing them head-on. There’s a great deal of confusion about what is okay to talk about in…
What is the root of virtually every problem in your world? It’s actually very simple. “The trouble with people is not that they don’t know but that they know so much that ain’t so.” –Josh Billings, American humorist Ironically this quote is usually attributed to Mark Twain or Will Rogers. What Billings points out so…
“You never buy me flowers.” A phrase that makes men’s heart’s sink. So the next day, the man buys her flowers. “Gee, thanks,” she says flatly, forcing a smile. Men: that’s when you tell yourself women are unpleasable and irrational. But you’re wrong. You’re just not listening between the lines, and it’s the same thing…
Have you been to customer service hell? Of course, you have. It gains more ground in our world every day. Personal responsibility is in decline. There are many facets to good customer service, but there’s one principle that underlies all of them: personal ownership. Good customer service happens when an agent takes personal responsibility for…
Critical Thinking Creates Results “I can’t trust my people to make big decisions.” “My employees aren’t engaged.” “No one cares as much as I do.” Coaches and consultants hear these frustrations often. These are symptoms of a complex problem that has a simple solution. Here’s a true story. Evan, an executive in professional services was…
“That’s an issue I’m working on.” “I’m a work in progress.” “I do a lot of work on myself.” Sometimes these are statements of responsibility. Sometimes they’re excuses. How do you tell the difference? Popularity of any anything tends to dilute. I’m reminded of the Devil Wears Prada Scene where we’re taught how trends from…
This article is about dealing with excuses. Don’t have time to read it? Yeah, that’s probably an excuse. C’mon, you’ve got five minutes, especially because: If you spend time dealing with excuses, this article will save you hundreds of hours a year. Also, in this article is a free tool with six simple principles that,…