Back in May, I started a list of suggestions for how we could live and operate our businesses from a place of greater happiness. This is a list of what could make us happier people and better business leaders, but it could also be interpreted as a list of the things that make us miserable or make our lives and …
Freedom
We’ve just celebrated our national 4th of July holiday, one of my favorites. It’s the day we dedicate to remembering what it means and costs to be free. I work hard at never taking for granted that I live in a nation that allows me to pursue my dreams, live where I want, worship as I chose, and always have …
Everything Else…
If we aren’t paying attention (and sometimes even if we are), there are three things that happen naturally in all companies: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Friction is a naturally occurring state that happens when you have more than one person working in a company. Hire two or more people, and at some point, you’re going to experience some friction. Friction …
Yes, You Can
I have a sign on my desk (given to me by the fantastic Sara Connell) that says, “I Can and I Will.” I’ve put lots of sayings on my desk, bulletin board, dream boards, laptop screens, and bathroom mirrors over the years to give me a nudge about sentiments I tend to forget or acknowledge. They simply remind me of …
Running the Leadership Marathon
If you want to run a marathon, life will not hand you the trophy. It will hand you a pair of running shoes. I read this quote on one of my social media channels recently, and it got my attention because it’s so applicable in business and in life. If you’ve taken on the role of leader in your business …
Tasks vs Results
We’ve probably all had at least one of these handed to us in our professional careers: a job description. It lists the duties we were hired to complete. A good one lists the tasks in detail and aids us in assuring we meet expectations. However, even a well-written job description is only half the information we need to understand what …
Complaining or Coaching?
“Nobody wants to work hard anymore.” “There’s no more team loyalty.” “I can’t seem to get anyone to go the extra mile.” “Why can’t my team be more self-motivated?” These statements and many more like them are ones we hear from leaders and managers all the time. They are all important. They are critical to solve. They are all true …
Seeing the Best
Does being happy matter in business? I think it does, and there is plenty of current research to show that it matters more and more to the customers, clients, and patients in today’s marketplace. Someone asked me recently, “How is it that you’re able to be so happy with all that’s going on in the world today?” They were speaking …
Happy People
I’d describe my dad as one of the happiest people I know. He doesn’t live a perfect life, but he’s happy pretty much no matter what happens. I’ve always dreamed that I could learn to live my life so that people would describe me that way. I think it would be a great epitaph at the end of a life …
Moving from Pressure to Belief
Someone recently said to me, “I hate the word accountability because it seems so punitive.” They preferred terms such as responsibility and commitment because, to them, they seemed more positive. I found this sentiment interesting because it reveals an underlying belief that I encounter frequently as a leadership communication coach: the assumption that to obtain accountability from our people, we …
