Posted: November 2, 2011 | Categories: Leadership

Legendary Football Coach Vince Lombardi believed in building on strengths.  When he became head coach of the Washington Redskins, one of the first conversations he had was with Sonny Jurgensen, the Redskin’s quarterback.  Sonny was reaching the end of his career, and his performance was slipping.  Coach Lombardi said to Sonny, “I’m going to build this team the same way I built Green Bay…around the quarterback.  That’s you.  Let’s get started”

That year Sonny had one of his best seasons.  When asked by a reporter why he had such a turnaround, he said, “Coach Lombardi made be believe in myself”

If we are genuine, specific, timely, and purposeful, we can make others on our team aware of their strengths in a way they can build on them – just like Sonny Jurgensen.Read More…

Posted: October 20, 2011 | Categories: Leadership

Think about someone in your life who made a positive difference for you.  It could be a parent, coach, teacher, boss, co-worker, friend, or someone else special.  My bet is that this person was in there with you as you navigated through your challenges and triumphs.
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Posted: October 19, 2011 | Categories: Team Building

Let’s assume you and your team are optimistic about your future, and mutual respect and trust has been built.  (See white paper on building trust).  You are now ready for a working agreement.  In the book, High Impact Teams, author Rachel Lewis talks about the importance of a working agreement:

“Teams excel when their members abide by a clear set of working agreements.  Working agreements define how the crew will work together and support one another.  Working agreements foster team progress by providing a structure to support the work of a team and to ease the entry and integration of new team members”
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Posted: October 10, 2011 | Categories: Sales

Comedian Rodney Dangerfield immortalized the phrase, “Can’t get no respect”.  One of the most common gripes I hear in the business world today is, “I can’t get an audience!”  Voice mail, automated attendants, and social media have made it more challenging to get those face-to-face meetings we need to have quality sales conversations.  So what can we do to get to our audience?
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Posted: September 19, 2011 | Categories: Management

Our unemployment rate is high. People are working more hours due to layoffs, more job complexity, and higher demands. A national Human Resource Group reports that 60% of people do not like their jobs. As Matthew Kelly points out in his book, The Dream Manager, “workers who are frustrated and resentful are not fully engaged. If they are only 60% engaged, they are only 60% employed.”
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