I read Daniel Steinberg’s newsletter about Small Big Thinking. He wrote about small things that appear big. And big things that appear small. In my experience, those small big things tend to be irritants. For instance, I have a pair of perfectly good sneakers that don’t stay tied. There’s something wrong with the shoelaces. I […]
What Do You Forget to Notice? Read More »
A colleague worries that his team wants to change too much about how they work, all at once. He said, “They have 47 ideas that they want to use, to change how they work.” I said, “47 seems like a lot.” He nodded. “I suspect there are 46 too many for now.” After we both
Do You Need to Focus or Harness Your Energy? Read More »
As a consultant, I regularly work with managers who want predictability. To get that predictability, they want to remove “all” of the risk. They do a lot of up-front planning and estimation. They try to predict how things will go. Then, “Something Happens.” That Something requires adaptability and resilience to manage the risk. Some of
What’s Your Tolerance for Risk vs Resilience? Read More »
Now that I’ve had my vaccinations, I’m ready to renew myself. I miss seeing people, locally and worldwide. However, I definitely do not want to work and live the way I did before. Instead, I want to take this time to renew (and maybe reinvent), starting with my thinking. Of course, I looked up the
How Will You Renew Yourself? Read More »
I spoke with a job-seeker the other day. He needs a new job. He feels as if he made some bad choices for previous positions. Those (bad) choices weigh him down. He’s not sure he has anything to offer a new company. Here’s what he told me about his experience: Several years of experience as
How Do You Work to Increase Your Self-Esteem? Read More »
I try to give people the benefit of the doubt in email or online. We can’t see the other person’s facial expressions. Or hear the music in the language. However, I flip the Bozo bit when I receive a message from someone as I did this morning on LinkedIn: Based on your profile, we think
What Causes You to Flip the Bozo Bit on Someone? Read More »
My expertise spans several dimensions. So does yours. Professionally, I’m an expert in many aspects of management and product development. Personally, since I’ve spent so much time in physical therapy over the years, I know what kinds of PT tend to work for me. And let’s not forget my vertigo. I’m an expert in vertigo.
Whose Expertise Do You Believe? Read More »
You might have noticed I missed writing last week’s question-of-the-week. I definitely noticed. Why did I miss a post? I’m not traveling. I have a handle on my client work, workshops, and writing. (A tenuous hold, but I’m still hanging on.) No, it was this website. I posted last month’s newsletter, and then I realized
Are You Yak-Shaving or Creating More Value? Read More »
When do you notice a change? Do you notice a change when it occurs? Maybe later? Or, are you sometimes like me, where I don’t notice until too late? When we notice a change too late, we let problems fester. We missed that first change and now we have a bigger problem. Those big problems
How Early Can You Notice That First Change? Read More »
Every so often, I enter into a situation where I’m unsure of myself. I encountered this just last week. The organizers and panelists on a large Zoom call had created working agreements. We spoke according to those agreements. And we knew that a couple of people were going to join late, an hour into the two-hour
How Can You Be Even More True to Yourself? Read More »