Type any question into Google right now and in less than one second you’ll have millions of answers. In a time of instantaneous information, leaders often get confused. We think our job is to serve up all the answers for our teams to simply scroll and select. But the most successful leaders are the ones who understand their role is not to be the search engine, but rather be part of the search engine. Exploring…
While hiking through the Grand Canyon my family, we came upon this ridge with the most stunning views overlooking the canyon. But over to our right was an ugly cluster of trees burned to their roots by wildfires. At first glance, we were disheartened because we saw an area of scarcity where we thought there should be beauty. Then, our guide explained this devastation was actually the result of something called “sparking,” a controlled forest…
When it comes to setting the temperature on your team, there is no magic pill. There is no easy button. There is no quick fix. Shaping the culture is a committed process. Moving the dial on your thermostats is a journey. And guess what? The reward is in the journey, too. Going through the process itself with the most important thermostats in your life and work is what creates the desired outcomes. The magic is…
The sport of basketball is the same game that’s been around for well over 100 years. But how the game is played has changed. Ten years ago, there wasn’t a single team in the NBA that even attempted more than 30 three-point shots during a game. And now, just 10 years later, more than half the league averages nearly 42 three-point attempts per game. Wow. That’s one serious shift. This new approach means everything changed—from…
In the 1930s, many major record companies were exploring ways to create longer-playing records that could fit more music onto them. Company after company failed attempts to jam more music onto their records and sound quality plummeted. Finally, one studio, Columbia, figured out how to create a new LP that had a stronger foundation, purposeful design—and actually increased the sound quality. The LP was born and revolutionized the music industry! Many years later, entrepreneurs and…
Someone recently explained to me how a battery works. On every battery there’s a positive and negative side. Energy gets transferred when the electrons are pulled from the negative over to the positive. The concept felt oddly familiar. I quickly realized: It mirrors every team and organization on the planet. The thing is, there’s no such thing as a perfect culture, a perfect team or even a perfect individual. We can’t be 100 percent optimistic…
Many of the important anchors you drop are internal, meant only for the development of the people in the trenches with you each day. But sometimes, it’s important to drop anchors that reach externally in the world and set the temperature with those you serve. Black Friday, the day that begins at midnight on Thanksgiving with millions of excited shoppers rushing retail locations for discounted items, has been growing rapidly. Last year Americans spent 1.7…
Many times the habits we think we are anchoring are not truly being anchored. The brilliant Atul Gawande in his book The Checklist Manifesto showed us all that we cannot assume that even the small “routine” actions are getting accomplished when we live in a quick, complex and uncertain world. His passionate and persuasive message about the power of checklists cites case after case where simple reminders about the steps in a process allowed successful…
Who doesn’t love a solid underdog story? You know the one. The little-known nobody taking on the big, bad somebody. It just feels right to root for them, doesn’t it? That’s why March Madness is my favorite time of year. Every one of the 68 teams in the tournament has a shot. These teams have hope. They believe their one shining moment WILL happen. And it absolutely could. I like to think about the…
“Let’s test them,” I said with excitement in my voice. “After all, they say they are freaky fast.” The challenge was on. I was standing at the creative business retreat center, sparkspace, and staring at their founder and my good friend Mark Henson. Our meeting was about to begin, but first things first: We needed something to eat. sparkspace kept a tally of delivery times from recent Jimmy John’s orders on its dry erase board. They…
