Keep up to speed on Todd’s latest thoughts, books, clients, and professional activities.
Change doesn’t just happen. It needs a catalyst. It needs to be facilitated. Years ago, I did a bit while speaking that was designed to make this point. I would ask the audience to close their eyes and trust me. People would comply. Then I asked them, with their eyes remaining closed, to stand up. […]
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“It’s not personal. It’s just business.” I think this is one of the least productive things ever said. Life is short and we spend most of it at work, so it’s definitely personal. Work has been compared to a totalitarian regime. We are told when to be there and when to leave, what to do, […]
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It sounds good, right? According to most dictionaries, to be fulfilled is to feel satisfied or happy. You don’t want to be fulfilled. You want to be intermittently fulfilled. You have to make it a part-time job or it becomes a full-time problem. To feel fulfilled, when predicated on hard work and achievement, is a […]
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(Excerpt from my new book Live Hard) “Take the topic of privilege – white privilege to be exact. Is it real? Yes. Is it important? Yes. Is it easy for people, especially white people, to understand? Not always. The challenge is that while all white people have experienced privilege, they don’t know it. They think […]
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The most common definition of leadership suggests it is an influence process focused on maximizing what a group can accomplish in terms of goal attainment. I’ve never been comfortable with this definition. Let’s consider each part of the traditional definition and a few things that should be added: To start, yes, leadership is a process. […]
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Leadership isn’t just about making the right call. Ultimately, success is about execution. The right decision implemented poorly isn’t worth anything. So, it’s useful to think about leadership as a process. For every significant decision or project, think about the before, during, and after. Before you make the call, there is plenty of work to […]
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It’s fun to research, assemble, and try out your own personal bag of tricks to be applied to relationship and career issues. I love finding new rules, maxims, and tools to consider. However, you do run a risk when you find new practices to try. If you try something once and it works, there is […]
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We’ve been told that burning bridges is not wise. This refers to irreparably harming key relationships and opportunities as a part of a rough and hasty exit from a difficult situation. This can be accomplished by unexpectedly abandoning your responsibilities, intentionally damaging work products, treating key people with whom you work negatively and harshly, etc. […]
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One minute things are flowing and the group is killing it. The next minute it seems as if you’re all slogging through a field of thick mud. Progress slows or stops. Stuck happens. You might find yourself stuck as a team due to long hours, seemingly impossible tasks, never-ending changes demanded of you, or some […]
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A lot of organizations talk about learning and innovation, but it’s just hot air. They like the ideas, but not the inherent risk and hard work. We all fawn over the maverick of the month in the business press, but are we really walking the innovation talk? Highly effective organizations get past the rhetoric and […]
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