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Are You Killing the Creativity in Your Business?
“Creativity” is one of those things (like its close cousin “risk-taking”) that nearly all leaders love to hail, praise, and rhapsodize over. So why is actual creativity in the workplace so rare? It’s...
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The Real Secret to Coming Up With a Great Idea
Oh, to be the person who comes up with “the great idea”! Solar power! The artificial heart! Potato chips that stack in a can! Great ideas are everywhere, and yet they always seem to be the brainchild...
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Are You Lying About Trusting Your Team?
Do you trust your team? I don’t mean “trust” in the sense of, “I trust that my team members won’t sell our company secrets to the Russians,” (although that might be kind of important, depending on your...
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Why Aren’t You Hearing Your Team’s Best Ideas?
Why are the people on the frontline such dullards? I mean, really, these people couldn’t come up with a creative idea if their jobs depended on it. Thank goodness you don’t expect too much from them,...
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A “Basic” Trick to Boost Your Team’s Creativity
Imagine this: There’s a crisis looming in your business. [You: “Why do you have to be so negative, Bill?”] [Me: “Fair point. Let’s reset.”] Imagine this: There’s an opportunity looming in your...
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Is This the Key to an Interesting Life?
“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” ~ Samuel Johnson If there were a “magic bullet” trait for living an interesting (and interested) life, I would...
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Why Leaders Need to be More Like Shakespeare
Leaders should be intelligent, right? I mean, it doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s kind of the ideal. We want our leaders—community, corporate, political—to be intelligent. But what kind of...
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Are You Playing to Your Strengths Every Day?
Yesterday I was the closing keynoter for a conference of credit union leaders. One of the speakers who was on before me mentioned what was, to me, a startling statistic. He said that the average credit...
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10 Books to Boost Your Creativity
Last week I posed the question, “What Are You Reading?” In case your answer was, “Nuthin’,” I wanted to — as a public service — both give you some ideas on where to start and spur your creativity at...
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An Open Letter to Would-Be Leaders
Leadership doesn’t begin when you get the job. Whether you aspire to lead a department, a sports team, a company, or a country, if you think that leadership begins once you get the job, you’ve got the...
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Why Your Workplace Needs to Be a Classroom
I’ve written quite a bit about how and why leaders need to be continuous learners. I believe that, as a leader, if you’re not continuously — and intentionally — learning, then you’re not really a...
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Will They Be Sorry To See You Leave?
“Some people brighten a room when they enter it; others when they leave.” You’ve probably heard this quotation or some variation of it. I have no idea who said it originally, but it certainly is true....
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3 Ways to Practice Intentional Creativity
According to Fast Company, creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business. Why is it, then, that so few leaders do little (or nothing) to make creative thinking a...
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Great Teams Focus on the Mission, Not the Squabbles
This weekend I was lucky enough to have VIP seats to see a performance by the U.S. Navy’s precision flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels. They are, by any standard, an incredible team. They fly...
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Are You About to Lose One of Your Best Employees?
I’m angry at Janie’s boss. I don’t know Janie’s boss. I’ve never met Janie’s boss. But I do know Janie. Janie is one of the most diligent, hard-working, eager-to-learn people I’ve ever met. But...
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The Benefits of Informal Get-Togethers
I just spent a delightful morning with a colleague of mine (Ron, another speaker) who was in from out of town and gave me a call. And yes, I realize I just used the word “delightful,” when the more...
View ArticleWhat Does it REALLY Mean to Be a Producer?
“So, what does a producer really do?” During my 15 years as the Executive Producer of Seattle’s hit comedy TV show Almost Live!, I was asked that question a lot. Many times by members of my own staff....
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How Are You Filling Your Idea Pipeline?
I’ve just been reading a terrific new book called High-Profit Prospecting by my friend and colleague Mark Hunter. Mark is a consummate sales professional, and his book is about how to keep your sales...
View ArticleWhat’s Going to Move Your Needle?
Options, options, too many options! Don’t you feel like that sometimes? · Which of these hundred mayonnaises should I buy? · Which of these hundred TV series should I Netflix? · Which of...
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Profitable Creativity May Be Closer Than You Think!
Would you like to find a creative solution to your current challenge du jour? It may be as close as the morning newspaper. (Note to younger readers: the “morning newspaper” used to be an actual thing....
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