How many times have we been a part of a team or the leader of a team, where behaviors are disruptive to the success of the team? These behaviors can be anything from classic passive aggressive behavior to constant interruptions by a certain person when in meetings to someone always being late. This can be super frustrating and discouraging.…

In a letter to her husband, John Adams, Abigail Adams said: “We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.” I imagine we have all been there at one time or another: when folks say much, yet do not live in integrity with their words and actions. It can be…

A lot has been written about the use of silence in selling, negotiating, and in all sorts of business scenarios. There is a good reason for that! There comes a point in almost any sales pitch or negotiation when the other person should be talking AND there comes a point when no one should be…

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions ~ Rainer Maria Rilke   What questions are…

I heard an interesting interview a few weeks ago with, of all people: Simon Cowell. I actually have a strange respect for Simon Cowell. He says what we all secretly want to say, he says it with candor and direct honesty, and he never apologizes for his opinion. Whatever your opinions of him are, one…

As leaders we find ourselves facing hard decisions on a regular basis. The most difficult ones are seldom black and white. These are the decisions that force us to choose between competing values. It is not easy or clear cut. Often these decisions are not clearly ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ instead they become the lesser of evils where neither…

Many of my clients have lamented about a broken system in their company, or the riddle of politics which hinders their upward progression. They admit to frustration and a desire to ‘change’ the way it works. Well, here’s a newsflash; unless you are the CEO, and often even that position doesn’t give you the power…

In our first “From the Cockpit interview” with Steve Lee, chief pathfinder, Quicksilver Interactive Group, we discussed the criticality of alignment between social media and the company’s strategic direction. So, I went in search of success stories on companies that have implemented creative social media strategies to support their overall business objectives. I found these…

I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ~ Christopher Reeves   What is being revealed to you by how you are meeting your obstacles?   From where does your strength come? Where to you envision yourself to be at the end of 2011?…

Several times this past week I have discussed with clients the concept of ‘meeting folks where they are.’ I’ve offered this perspective often in my writings since the beginning of Alignment, Inc. Typically, the conversation of ‘meeting folks where they are’ flows from a the sayings: ‘they just don’t get it’ or ‘they don’t think the…