Posts tagged as:

Personal Effectiveness

The Z Factor

September 2, 2010

KNOWING WHEN TO ZIP YOUR LIP IS KEY TO SUCCESS Given that my company’s tag line is “master the people equation”, I’m always on the look-out for clever “equations” that tie to human dynamics. Of course, people are far too complex to be reduced to one “correct” answer like a math equation. Still, it’s fun [...]

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5 Lessons Learned from a Failed Project

May 29, 2010

Last week, I wrote about a powerful leadership lesson learned when my key project crashed and burned.  People Equation reader Nancy asked about the lessons learned from that experience. Indeed, there were several. But first, the story of “The Institute”, the project that gave me both fits and gifts. . . Years ago, I joined [...]

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Redemption

May 23, 2010

Have you ever led a high-visibility project that has crashed and burned? I have and it taught me a powerful leadership lesson. Read on . . . The Back Story Many years ago, shortly after I joined a Fortune 500 company, I was assigned to manage a project called the “Institute”. The Institute was an [...]

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Boundaries of Fearlessness

March 27, 2010

In his book Linchpin Seth Godin draws a distinction between the words fearless and reckless. Fearless people, he says, are “unafraid of things one shouldn’t be afraid of.” They push through any imagined “threat” to make a presentation to a difficult customer or conduct a challenging conversation with an underperforming employee. On the other hand, [...]

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It’s Only “No”

March 23, 2010

When I was a kid, struggling about going for a new opportunity my mom would say, “What’s it hurt to ask? The worst they can say is ‘no’.”    Same message by Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership in his post Career Advice Part 4: You Have to Ask for It. . .  . . . [...]

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Small Business Dining Guide for Social Media

February 17, 2010

During my presentation to the Grand Rapids Entrepreneur’s Club today, I compared social media options for the small business owner to stepping up to an all-you-can-eat buffet.  There are a slew of choices—how do you choose those that are most healthy for your business? Following that analogy, I offer you, the small business owner, a [...]

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Office Politics: It’s Personal

February 9, 2010

Our 5-part series on positive office politics, (The P Quotient) is drawing to a close.  In this final installment, Jane Perdue looks at personal influence, one of four key behaviors needed for a person to be considered politically savvy in a productive way.   Just tuning in to this fascinating topic?  Start here for the [...]

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Do You Trust Your Agenda?

February 4, 2010

As part of an ongoing blog series on Positive Office Politics  (follow #OPQ on Twitter), Susan Mazza asks “What’s Your Agenda?” In this blog post, she explores personal motivations and how they show up in the workplace.  She says: We ALL have agendas. You could say our ambitions, no matter how altruistic or noble they may [...]

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Thank Your Mentor Today

January 21, 2010

Today is Thank Your Mentor Day, which is part of National Mentoring Month.  Who knew?  Over the years I’ve had LOTS of fantastic mentors, and this is a perfect time to give them a well-deserved shout-out. The list below represents my former work team leaders, company executives, peers and fellow entrepreneurs. Interestingly, none of them [...]

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Networking Inside the Company Walls

January 19, 2010

  This post is part of a series on positive office politics, or what we’re calling The P Quotient. It’s a collaborative effort with fellow bloggers Jane Perdue, Mike Henry and Susan Mazza. Jane kicked off the series with a look at the competencies cited as key to being politically astute. She also takes a [...]

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