As of this morning, the possible swing states are still counting the 2020 election votes. We knew this would happen. Why? Because back in the spring, when election officials planned for the fall, they thought the virus would be gone by now. Or, that we would have a vaccine. Or some other rosy prediction. Note […]
How Do We Unite for a Common Goal? Read More »
I’ve been thinking about perfection these days. As a society, we seem to want it all. We want everything open. We don’t discriminate between schools and airplanes. And, several people have written to me, saying they want to be perfect in some or many areas of their lives. I wish I was perfect. Not only
How Much Imperfection Can We Live With? Read More »
We often talk about a few “bad apples” in teams, groups, or even society as a whole. We use the term “bad apples” because that metaphor helps us see that one bad apple can poison an entire container. Should we tolerate one bad apple? Are there other options to help us create a culture that
How Do We Create Culture? Read More »
In these COVID times, some people think they need to play zero-sum games. Those games are the ones where “I win, you lose.” While we might win short-term, we often all lose with zero-sum games. That’s because the game ends. However, there is another kind of game: infinite games. The point of infinite games is
Are You Playing a Finite or an Infinite Game? Read More »
Right now, in July 2020, we have several problems: COVID-19 the disease, the effect of the virus on our economy, and a reckoning of our culture. Each problem shares a common characteristic. We can’t see the finish line. We might know what we want, and we can’t see how to get there. This is related,
How Do We Operate When We Can’t See the Finish Line? Read More »
I’m writing this newsletter in the time of COVID-19 and the protests about George Floyd’s murder. I feel as if we are in much more chaos, even as we understand more about the virus. (I actually had to write What Do You Do When You’re Off-Center? before I wrote this.) I’ve been practicing these ideas and hope
Three Tips to Help Us Now & in the Future Read More »
We operate at various levels in our families, work, and society. We have shortcut names for these behaviors: the economic contract and the social contract. When we use the economic contract, we have a document that lays out our responsibilities and rewards. For example, at work, we have a contract for our job that discusses
When Do We Choose the Social Contract & When Do We Choose the Economic Contract? Read More »
As I connect with various colleagues and friends who now work from home, they all say the same thing. “I’m always working. I work all day and all night. The work never ends.” They pause. “You’ve worked from home for years now. How do you manage it?” I create boundaries for my professional and home-based
How Can You Create Boundaries? Read More »
As we live through the COVID-19 pandemic, we see cracks in how we support our partners and loved ones. Some couples divide the work so that only one of the partners knows all the passwords. Or, where the important papers are. Or, the typical things that go wrong in the house. And, too few people
How Resilient is Your Family? Read More »
I read Dwayne Phillips’ One of the Ultimate Compliments at Work and started thinking about being indispensable. I wonder if people want to be indispensable or if they want to be missed. I’m not a fan of indispensable people. They create bottlenecks in projects and cause delays. (See Change the Indispensable Employee Mindset.) And, even
Will They Miss Me When I’m Gone? Read More »