so your vision is never lost.

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

 
Don’t Make Dreams Your Master
Dreams are a tool, in that they can give us a starting point. A discharge of the information collected from that day, likely with some reorganization. In many ways, dreams are just a mental construct of an “ideal” or of “perfection”. If we are waiting for an exact dream with all the answers to act, we may end up seriously disappointed and have a negative view about life.   Additionally, if we keep pushing toward the dream without paying attention to […]
Make Time for Later Now
Planning for the future right now is critical for organizations to be successful. In a recent meeting, a Leadership Team voiced frustrations that they had “no time to plan, strategize and set goals.” There is no team, business, couple, or individual that has time to do it all. It is the planning that helps identify what is important, what has priority and if you are all moving in the same direction. You must make time to make a plan, review […]
Leading From the Middle
A while back, a leader we were working with was in a tough spot. He was trying to get the boss (the owner) to grow the business. But no matter what he did, he could not convince his boss to take steps to grow the business. There was much blame, justification and shouldering about why this was happening. Then, later, in a meeting the leadership team was having, we challenged the team to “just do it”. Respectfully, build a rough […]
Standing Around Looking Stupid – And in My Case, Asking Questions
A good friend and client, in his 60’s, who I believe is one of the smartest well-read people I know, and is constantly learning, likes to say that “Standing around looking stupid, you can learn an awful lot.” Originally, I thought I was smart, but I have learned that my real job is to stand around looking stupid and ask a lot of questions. This brings out the wisdom of any group and gets the debate going. It is also […]
4 Core Surveys: To Survey or Not To Survey?
If everyone was direct, open and specific about their opinions on all issues, surveys would not be needed. However, the reality is that surveys not only get opinions that are hard to get otherwise, they are also valuable because: They cause people to think more since they can take time and come up with a deeper answer. Some people will respond in writing and not verbally. The questions can be specifically written to find out exactly what you need to […]
Capitalism at Work
We met with an owner of an organization recently. He and his partner started the company several years ago after working at another organization locally. That decades old organization began to have problems when the economy turned downward and eventually imploded. From the ashes, this new organization, under the shoe string financing of the two new owners, and with the support of 30 employees, started from scratch and rebuilt their organization. This organization satisfied a need in the marketplace, and […]
Acquisitions & The 3Rs
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses acquisitions and the importance of taking the time to understand the people. When organizations hire one individual, it is important that salary, job description, values and heart are a fit with the individual and the culture. However, if there is a value or culture issues that arises with only one person, the success of an organization is not in jeopardy. Mergers and acquisitions, though, are considerably more complicated. Often […]
Do You Have a Balanced Focus?
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses the importance of focus. We have found that primarily, leaders that focus more in-depth on business while at work have more success and stronger employees than those leaders that do not have a clear focus on their work, goals, and vision.  When leaders have balance in their focus, not only are they able to have more impact with their team but also have stronger, more in-depth relationships with those […]
What Will Your Legacy Be?
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses the legacies we leave behind. When things get tough in business, what will your legacy be? Part of our legacy is our children seeing us go through the hard times and seeing that it is not all about money.  Children and employees seeing us uphold integrity, honor and cheerfulness even through the difficult times is a valuable, powerful legacy.  Additionally, leaving behind a clear vision of a better future […]