Written By Hand: Volume VIII

U.S. Library of Congress ISSN 2164-7240

Issue Number 11 - December 2011

Leadership: The Value of Two Perspectives

On a brief holiday trip, I decided to let the dog off-leash because I thought he would stay with me. (In the year ahead, I’ll be writing more about effective decision making. This was an example of a bad one.)

Issue Number 10 - November 2011

Leadership: Run Your Own Race

There are several things that will “eat you alive” or put another way, cause you suffering as you lead your company and your life. One in particular is very much on my mind: Don’t make the mistake of racing someone else’s race.

Issue Number 9 - October 2011

Why Saying Goodbye to a Former Product, Former Company, or Brand Is Good Business

I was in the Netherlands with a select group of international consultants. We had come together to learn from and practice with two of the best teachers in the world of the systemic work called Organizational Constellations. One teacher mentioned that if you introduced a new product after letting an old one go without any acknowledgment of all that it had contributed, the new product would not do well.

Issue Number 8 - September 2011

Is Organizational Irrationality Driving You Crazy?

Countless times I have heard heated comments about the irrational behaviors of others: in business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-government (B2G), it’s the client; within an organization, it’s sales or corporate headquarters or… the list goes on!

Issue Number 7 - July 2011

Change Management: People Know When They Are Being Played, and Value When They Aren't

When Dan Ouellette, Director of Sales, Charles Luck Stone Centers, talks about Luck Stone, it's with pride. Somewhere in conversations with him, the company's values always arise. And one value always gives me pause--that value is respect. Respect for employees, for customers, suppliers both national and international, and the communities in which Luck Stone operates.

Issue Number 6 - June 2011

Wildlife at Work

Have you heard the idiom "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck then, it's probably a duck"? As a manager, you better be able to identify your wildlife at work--sometimes it isn't a duck. It's a "red herring"--something that distracts you from the real issue.

Issue Number 5 - May 2011

Better Decisions: The Wisdom of the Body

What's on my short list of things leaders can do to make better decisions?

Engage the wisdom of the body.

Issue Number 4 - April 2011

You Can't Eat Just One, or Can You?

Lay's® potato chips, a crunchy little snack food once described as a vehicle for conveying salt and fat, had a playful commercial touting their irresistibility; a person might try to eat just one chip but could not possibly resist another. Their tagline was "Bet you can't eat just one!" I have encountered a few clients who similarly could not resist answering requests for help or taking on yet another project or task.

Issue Number 3 - March 2011

"I Don't Have Time"and How You Can Find Some

In the 1970s, my father introduced us to Alan Lakein's book How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. Even as I write to you now, I wonder pleasantly whether a yellowed and faded copy still rests in my parent's library. The essence of Lakein's processes involves planning, listing, and prioritizing. As I worked with those exercises developing near, mid-term, and long-term goals for my life, I never realized how strategic thinking and planning was bred in me at an early age, nor how much fruit it would bear in my professional life. It was one among many lifetime gifts my father gave me.

Issue Number 2 - February 2011

What Makes Your Heart Sing?

As I shift the direction of my business to include the field of International Development I am engaging in what I call my Joseph Campbell strategy. In order to follow my bliss as Campbell so richly guides us, I am asking myself "What makes my heart sing?"

Issue Number 1 - January 2011

Taking Our Place: Glass Ceiling or Thatched Roof

I just finished Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

The title comes from the Chinese adage "Women hold up half the sky." A day or two after finishing the book, I watched the TED talk "Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders" by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. It was when she made the first point in her talk--take a seat at the table--that I saw how clearly our acculturation binds us to unwritten rules whether I am a woman aspiring to the C-suite or a woman trying to provide scarce food for my family.