One of my favorite experiential activities for management training is an oldie but goodie called the “Boo/Yay” exercise. In it, two volunteers separately try to guess a per-determined task such as walking to the front of the room and picking up a marker. The audience is instructed to give the volunteers feedback to help them…
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Bully on the Track Field
So I’m reading Bret Simmons’ post When the Bully Boss is Female . . . There’s a slight whooshing sound in my brain and all of a sudden time sort of shifts. It’s the 1970’s and I’m in 8th grade. A new family has moved from Chicago to our tiny farming community in Michigan. They…
Book Review: The Sharp Employee
In preparation for reviewing the Marcus Buckingham’s soon-to-be released book Find Your Strongest Life, I decided to pull some of Buckingham’s earlier books off the shelf and give them a second look. This review is the first of a three-part series. Now, Discover Your Strengths Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton The highlights: In the…
The Art of Serendipity
I was comparing notes on competency development the other day with Mollie Lombardi of the Aberdeen Group*. At some point during our conversation, the talk turned to Twitter because that’s where I met Mollie. We were discussing the massive flow of information via the tweet stream and Mollie said, “Yes, Twitter gives me a chance…
Book Review: Rule-Breaking Works
In preparation for reviewing Marcus Buckingham’s soon-to-be released book Find Your Strongest Life, I decided to pull some of Buckingham’s earlier books off the shelf and give them a second look. This review is the first of a three-part series. First, Break All the Rules Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman The Highlights A decade ago, First,…