Thom gave Liz a beautiful stool to use in her kitchen. You can admire the stool, but if you want a stool like that, you can search the known universe and not find it. That’s because Thom made the stool for one person and situation. It’s unique. The best leadership is like that. We used to think that there was one best  »  Read More

Independent business blogs are blogs that aren’t supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don’t need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that  »  Read More

Leaders are readers. Reading helps you discover ideas to try and expand your mental models. In this post I point you to reviews of recent business books. You’ll find pointers to reviews of Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues, An Effort To Understand: Hearing One Another (and  »  Read More

To put it in pseudo-scientific terms, “laughter is an emergent property of a great place to work.” Now, I’ll climb down off my high horse and put it more plainly. If friendly laughter is a regular feature of your team, it’s a sign that the work environment is good. People want to make a contribution  »  Read More

I still remember the look on Ron’s face. He was a sharp guy who worked for a client of mine. He was young, just starting out, and a little “stiff.” That’s why we selected him as the object of our April Fool’s Day prank. The prank was no big deal, I thought. We wrote a letter (this was before  »  Read More

Independent business blogs are blogs that aren’t supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don’t need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that  »  Read More

I’m reading Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant. I bought this book because of Grant’s other books. I thought they were both excellent. Follow the links to my reviews of Outliers and Give and Take. I’m fascinated by curiosity and learning and how they make life rich. My life  »  Read More

We all want to do better. We all want to make some progress every day. When we do, we feel better and work harder. Ask each team member “How can I help you?” every day. Help the team and every team member make progress, even a little, every day. This is only one of 347 tips in my ebook, Become a Better Boss One  »  Read More

Weekends are time when things slow down a little. Your weekend shouldn’t be two more regular workdays. That’s a sure road to burnout. Take time to refresh yourself. Take time for something different. Take time for some of that reading you can’t find time for during the week. Here are choice articles on hot  »  Read More