Signs of low performance—missed deadlines, stalled goals, low motivation—aren’t “people problems”; they’re alignment problems. Improve team alignment with clear quarterly goals and frequent 1:1s that build accountability, sustain motivation, and keep performance on track.
Stories engage emotions, and emotions make things happen. More often than not, great leaders are great storytellers.
Make your message better with my new mini-course: How to Communicate Anything. No matter what you want to say, using my four-step process for clarifying and improving your message will help you communicate more effectively. As an English teacher, I taught thousands of students how to write. I started teaching at the USC Freshman Writing program when I was in graduate school, and love teaching so much that I continued teaching for another dozen years after I graduate. The more…
Everybody negotiates. Avoid these three negotiating mistakes. We negotiate the big stuff, like salaries and contracts, and we negotiate the little stuff, curfews and who will do the dishes. From my years as an entrepreneur and my coach training, I’ve honed my negotiating skills. I’m not supposed to make negotiating mistakes, but it happened to me recently. In the end, even though I got what I wanted, the whole process left me feeling that I was in the wrong. My…
No one wants to give negative feedback, and you don’t have to. Instead try positive feedback, coaching, and counseling.
News quiz: Who is publicly advocating for private investors to balance their investment returns with “the prosperity and security of their fellow citizens”? If you answered BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the head of one of Wall Street’s flagship firms, you were right. But if you didn’t know, you might be tempted to answer Bernie Sanders or someone from Occupy Wall Street. As head of one of Wall Street’s flagship firms, Larry Fink made more than one headline by focusing his…
Companies that develop and retain superior employees are making more money with fewer employees.