We’ve all heard the familiar saying “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Bullshit! Our ears are duly tickled, but the hidden agenda at the core of this counsel is positively poisonous. Don’t let anyone impel you to surrender your voice with his or her rhetoric of control. You [...]
The very first article I assign in my MBA class on Organizational Behavior is “Teaching Smart People How to Learn,” by Chris Argyris. People that are too smart to learn are very skilled problem solvers, but very unskilled at reflecting on and changing their own behavior. Successful people just like you and me are most [...]
My MBA class in personal branding was one of the most enjoyable classes I have ever taught in my entire career. The majority of my 30 students challenged themselves and encouraged each other to create blogs they could be proud of. I’m sure they used my name in vain many times when they were reading [...]
I taught courses in personal branding and social business this semester to 32 undergraduate and 30 MBA students at The University of Nevada, Reno. At the height of the course, students were required to blog three times per week and tweet three times per day, five days per week. We produced a mountain of content. [...]
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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 [...]
