I caught this interview with Kaki King on CNN today. I’ve never heard of Kaki King, so I was barely paying attention when she said something that just blew me away: I play guitar for a living, and this guitar is way smarter than me. I know that, and I say this a lot, but [...]
When I was around 18, I worked as a shift manager at McDonald’s Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One of the assistant managers that helped me get promoted and then trained me was a man named Don Griffin. I admired Don because he cared about the work that he did and he cared about me and [...]
The ability to say “thank you” to people that perform well or otherwise advance the shared purpose of the organization is a character strength that I believe we should require from those that we grant the privilege to lead. Expressing gratitude for the contribution of others is a type of reward power that can make [...]
Big thanks once again to Dan McCarthy at Great Leadership for organizing another great Leadership Development Carnival. The heavy lifting for this one was done by Kevin Eikenberry at Leadership and Learning. My contribution this month is entitled “The Vice of Ingratitude.” I also really enjoyed “The Accountability Contagion,” by Jason Lauritsen, and “Suspend Your [...]
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I am speaking this morning to a group of leaders at Truckee Meadows Community College. It’s not often that I get a chance to speak to colleagues in education about leadership so I am looking forward to it. These folks have been participating in leadership development and my talk will be the final session. I [...]
Crappy Systems – The Reason Why Good Service Is So Elusive
Why is it so hard to get good service in a coffee shop in Reno at 7:30 am on a Friday morning? Last week I had an unacceptable service encounter at Starbucks. This morning I once again was near that same Starbucks, and instead of going for the convenient experience, I drove out of my [...]
