I enjoyed another connection with a top-shelf leader here in Tri-Cities: Bill Johnson, the outgoing president of Mission Support Alliance. I didn’t know he was leaving when we had the interview, but glad that I had the opportunity to glean some nuggets of wisdom from him. Enjoy my takeaways: When Bill showed his expertise in […]
I had the privilege this year to interview Beck Taylor, the president of Whitworth University in Spokane, where my son attends. It is my habit for professional development to take a leader that I respect to lunch or coffee about once a month, to continue growing in my leadership skills. I was gratified to receive […]
Relationships are the spice of life! The best moments in life are those shared with other people. Here are the relationships that I intentionally “feed” with my time and energy–because it helps me pursue emotional health, and hopefully, I’m adding value to the recipients’ emotional health, too, by seeking to leave them in a better […]
How do you know when to abandon a current path and move on? When positive results have ceased on a regular basis. To continually invest in a losing course of action is futile, yet it’s difficult to admit that it’s simply not working. It’s often helpful to get an outside perspective, to ask you the […]
When someone is confronting you about something (in work or your personal life), it is very difficult to not get defensive, which simply escalates the conflict instead of heading it toward peaceful resolution. Try the LEAD formula for cooling down your confronter, bringing a bucket of water to the fire instead of a bucket of […]
In the Finger Eleven song “One Thing,” the lyric “I’m restless tonight because I wasted the light” can be a mantra repeated by most of us on occasion, when we realize “Where did the day go?” The hours ticked by, we did “stuff”, but go to bed feeling like no significant priorities were accomplished. Another […]
While it’s fun to go on a retreat with your leadership team and nail down or re-up a vision for your organization, and it’s critical to determine what the organization or team’s core values are and must continue to be, it is more difficult to keep them in the forefront of the team’s mind for […]
Maybe it’s because I’m in nature, maybe it’s having the mental space to think–but it seems I receive insights on life whenever I go hiking. Here are 4 questions to ask yourself that spring from an experience on the trails: Fork in the road. How do I make decisions? Hundreds of times each day, we […]
Another way to better stay accountable to yourself for getting your priorities done daily/weekly is to write 7-10 questions to ask yourself daily–and then post it in a place that forces you to look at it, with a time designated to ask the questions. Questions should revolve around your quarterly stretch goals: What are you […]
Michael Hoppe wrote the framework for being a great listener, and I have given my color-commentary on his main points, as a primer for boosting your listening skills. Adopting these methods will raise your emotional intelligence, and draw others toward you in relationships. Paying attention. To your own frame of mind and body language/eye contact/breathing/facial expression/approachable […]
