Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are the way that many companies formalize their employees’ professional development. Dan McCarthy of the Great Leadership blog posed this question recently to his blogger community: “We all know that individual development plans (IDPs) need to be tailored for each leader. However – if you had to recommend ONE THING that every leader should…
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5 Ways to Kill Your Chances of Making a Fair Deal
I don’t watch a lot of reality TV, but one night we happened upon The History Channel’s Pawn Stars. The escapades of Chumlee, Old Man, Rick and Corey are hard to resist, even if their scenarios are heavily scripted. A few minutes into it and I was hooked. Here’s the thing that drew me in:…
Employee Engagement – Ignore the Outliers
This is a multi-part series on employee engagement based on my interview with New York Times best-selling author Kevin Kruse. As a former business owner and winner of a “Best Place to Work” award, Kevin has a wealth of real-life experience. I found him to be funny, down-to-earth and very reasonable in his approach to…
Influence and Persuasion – A Reader’s List
When I read the book Influencer (now in its second edition) a few years ago, I became fascinated with the topic. So much so that I did quite a bit of research on influence and even put my own spin on the topic and created an e-book. (See sidebar to download your free copy.) One…
Zen of Jen – Practice Saying “No” with This Easy Exercise
Saying “no” isn’t easy for many people. From team members worried about speaking up to their boss, to saying no to a great “opportunity”, it can be difficult to figure out the right way to decline an offer. One of the main reasons we hesitate to say “no, thanks” is that we worry about the…