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New Program Helps Drive Big Outcomes with Small Changes

New Program Helps Drive Big Outcomes with Small Changes

Large scale organizational transformations often create more problems than they solve. That’s why my new Level-Up program focuses on identifying discrete behaviors that what adopted and reinforced, offer the potential to drive big results.

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Leadership Caffeine™—9 Lessons from the North Woods

Leadership Caffeine™—9 Lessons from the North Woods

There’s no shortage of leadership and management lessons to be found in the hard, manual labor found at a north woods property. While to many, the work might seem overwhelming, for those secure in the knowledge that they are creating something remarkable for those around them, the work is just part of the price of admission to success.

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Travis Kalanick’s Growing Up To-Do List as a Leader

Travis Kalanick’s Growing Up To-Do List as a Leader

Travis Kalanick, the CEO and founder of Uber, has had a tough few weeks. With a major sexual harassment investigation and a lawsuit by Alphabet (Google) for patent infringement, the last thing he needed was another viral bad moment. Unfortunately, that’s what he got when he berated an Uber driver and was captured on camera. Mr. Kalanick indicated that, “It’s time to grow up,” and he “wants leadership help.” Here’s a “Leadership To Do” list to help him get started…

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Leadership Caffeine™—Sweeping Incrementalism for Big Results

Leadership Caffeine™—Sweeping Incrementalism for Big Results

The big fixes complete with broad frameworks and their own vocabularies are alluring. They also are sinkholes of despair and frustration for groups unable to translate the ideas into coherent actions. Instead, focus on the small, subtle changes in behaviors that offer the potential for big results. I call this: sweeping incrementalism.

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Leadership Mistakes are the Foundation of Our Success

Leadership Mistakes are the Foundation of Our Success

No one serves in a leadership role without making mistakes. If you screw up, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep marching—a bit wiser and a lot better prepared for the next challenge. You too will build success upon a foundation of lessons learned the hard way.

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Don’t Let Lazy Brain Syndrome Stifle Creativity

Don’t Let Lazy Brain Syndrome Stifle Creativity

Humans are creatures of habit, and our approach to solving problems is no different. We tend to attack every problem in familiar ways, without taking the time or making the effort to consider creative options. The tracks of our minds are well grooved. Effective leaders recognize the hard work and heavy lifting involved with finding creative solutions and strive to push their teams out of those grooves.

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A to Z on Why Your Strategy or Change Initiative Will Fail

A to Z on Why Your Strategy or Change Initiative Will Fail

I've always enjoyed time-travel stories. What if in business, we could travel ahead in time to see our mistakes and then go back and correct them and change the future for the better? While Einstein and others suggest it is impossible, I beg to differ. In the case of...

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Leadership Caffeine™—Awkward Moments

Leadership Caffeine™—Awkward Moments

Our work lives are punctuated by awkward moments thrust upon us at various points in time. Any first day at a new job. Every last day at an old job. The day you learn your boss was fired. You liked this boss. Meeting your new boss at the firm buying your company. The...

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