Many leaders can come off as either too polished and phony or not polished and poised enough. Knowing when and how to be authentic versus deliberate is the key to maintaining your leadership effectiveness. For years, leaders were trained and advised to be more deliberate in their interactions. Polished and professional at all times. Calm in the storm. Carefully prepared for any type of communications. They worked hard t...

Each year businesses spend an aggregate of $40B on market research. This is largely in an effort to mine new insights about customers' unmet needs, or to test out new ideas to see if a large enough segment of their customers (or of the general population) will react positively to them. Businesses have begun to realize however that rather than — or in some cases, in addition to — spending millions each y...

Most line of business executives can identify when something’s broken, either by themselves or with help from their teams. But it’s another matter entirely to improve the process in a way that aligns with overall business objectives, integrates well with existing systems, is fully visible, and improves productivity and other essential outcomes. Here, we explore 10 questions business leaders must ask before takin...

In the U.S., healthcare is big business, representing about a sixth of the nation’s GDP. And it’s no secret that healthcare providers have been heavily incentivized by the government to adopt better technology. No less than $30 billion has been set aside over the last few years so that hospitals and health systems can operate more efficiently and patients can receive better care. Considering this massive infl...

In 1994, Mary Miller and her husband, Tony, decided to grow their cleaning company. They hired a consultant to help show them the way. Two days later, the consultant fired them. “I can’t help you,” he told Mary, the CEO of Cincinnati-based JANCOA Janitorial Services. “You’ve got a people problem: You don’t have enough of them.” He pointed out that he was supposed to spend the...

Holiday season is upon us which means you’ll likely be attending a lot of events. Not just your family events, but events at your job and any associations you may be a part of. While advancing your career may not be the point of these events, they do present the perfect opportunity to get a little networking in. Simply put, no one is expecting you to vie for a job at a holiday party like you would in a more prof...

‘Tis the season for holiday gatherings, including the company holiday party. It’s likely your employer will have some sort of celebration: More than 90 percent of businesses held one in 2015, up from 75 percent in 2014, according to executive search firm Battalia Winston. Many organizations today are more likely to have frequent social events throughout the year, which in many ways can relieve the pressure on...

How To Use Your Office Holiday Party to Land a Promotion Vicki Salemi wrote this great piece in the New York Post and included my insight about leveraging the office holiday party to your career advantage. Check it out! When a company’s branch manager throws a huge party to land a client in the Jennifer Aniston flick “Office Christmas Party,” out this week, many viewers may relate. The company hol...

In the last decade, leadership-development experts have enthusiastically pushed to improve their clients’ strengths instead of addressing their weaknesses. This approach may have some success in growing individuals’ effectiveness, but it’s fundamentally flawed. Strengths training and coaching have somewhat of a cult-like following among HR and coaching professionals. Leaders are encouraged to develop t...

I have been a student of innovation for more years now than I care to count. One of the things that has always made innovation so enjoyable to me is the fact that every business discipline seems to believe they 'own' innovation, a premise from which they have devised their particular flavor of innovation – one that in each case mirrors their unique perspectives on business. I would like to take us on a tour of the...