Why I am Optimistic for 2016
Watch the news and it’s easy to be cynical – wars, crime, disease, natural disasters. And yet, is this the reality of modern life, or the interpretation of it that’s reported? Considering violence, as Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker notes, “things really are getting better…..headlines are a poor guide to history. People’s sense of danger is […]
Your New Year’s Resolution: Time to Recalibrate?! – January 2016
Invest in yourself – make 2016 the year you take charge of change! Did you make a New Year’s Resolution for 2016? For those who did, unfortunately, 80% have already given up on their goal, before the calendar turns to February. How does this happen? Habits are hard to break, but the science of habit formation […]
Empathy: How it Can Help You Become a Better Change Leader
“I thought I came here today to learn more about myself, in order to help me do my job to manage change. What I really learned was empathy for other people, which will help me partner with others to lead change.” This revelation was shared by a Change Intelligence (CQ) workshop participant, and one that I’ve heard many […]
Consultant of the Year Award! – October 2015
I was thrilled and honored to be presented with the Change Management Consultant of the Year Award this month, during the first-ever Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Midwest Chapter Conference. In the words of John Barker, Chapter President (pictured with me): This award honors the change management practitioner who has contributed to the success […]
North Carolina, Ready to Learn Your CQ Style?
Will you be in or near Charlotte, NC on Tuesday, October 7th? I am excited to be partnering with the Synergistic Coach, Gerri Steadman when she hosts her “Learning Through Horses” workshop. Though the workshop itself is private, there will be a free reception that is open to the public from 5:30-7:30pm. At the reception, I […]
Winning the Race for Change: Lessons from the Iditarod – July 2015
During our family vacation to Alaska last month, we got the chance to meet the fabulous and frisky decedents of the Alaskan huskies who led Susan Butcher to victory in the Iditarod (the 1,049 mile dog sled race between Anchorage and Nome, through Alaska’s treacherous sub-Artic terrain). The story of Susan and her favorite dog, […]
What Can Winston Churchill Teach Us about Leading Change? – June 2015
First off, here’s a shout out to new readers of this newsletter who I met for the first time at the PMI EMEA Congress in London last month! It was thrilling to meet so many change leaders from around the world! While in London I had the pleasure of visiting the Churchill Museum, an extremely […]
Top Ten List! Is Your Change Leadership Missing One of These? – May 2015
In honor of David Letterman’s retirement and his love of “Top Ten Lists”, I took some time this month to reflect on my work with change leaders and on the qualities, behaviors, and mindsets that allow “Change Intelligent“ leaders to get results, build relationships, and be effective in their demanding roles. Here’s my version of […]
Beyond Agility: Are YOU an Antifragile Change Leader? (March 2015)
Ask yourself: Do you thrive in this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world, or merely survive? Do you have the change leadership, and not merely the change management, to “get to the next level”? Do you want (need!) to foster greater employee creativity & engagement and market innovation & disruption in your team and organization? These were questions the executives I […]
Let Go to Go Forward, February 2015
I was thrilled to be invited back to partner once again with a US/Japanese joint venture steel mill that I helped start-up in the early 1990s. As their union-management leadership team informed me, many of the “old timers” who started up the place with me are retiring, and they want to ensure that the very […]