Does your team understand their goals for the year? I bet they do. Most good leaders know how to set and communicate goals. What about expectations? How well does your team understand your expectations? What’s the difference? Goals reflect what you want accomplished. Expectations reflect how you want it accomplished. For example, your goals might… (read more)

Do you prefer busy, overfilled slides? If you’re like most people, I’m guessing you don’t. OK, now a harder question. Do you present busy, overfilled slides? If you’re like most people, I’m guessing you do. Why the disconnect? Why do so many of us do something that we don’t like for ourselves? More importantly, why do we do something… (read more)

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics[1] That conversation from the 1967 film The Graduate is one of the most famous pieces of career advice in pop-culture. Of course, if the movie were… (read more)

A few weeks ago, the internet went crazy over a letter that US President Trump sent to Turkish President Erdoğan. One of the criticisms of the letter had to do with its readability score. The letter was written at a third-grade reading level. This criticism reflected a common misconception. It confused simplicity and clarity with sophistication…. (read more)

“Our contract of carriage, that you agreed to when buying your ticket, allows us to remove, cancel, or change a seat assignment at any time for any reason.”  Those were the first words I heard from United’s empathy and customer-experience challenged customer service agent. I had just asked him why my son’s seat assignment “disappeared”… (read more)

There is no better indicator of reality than reality. At one time, that statement wasn’t particularly controversial. In fact, it was hard to get people to trust data. But times have changed.  Now data rules. When reality contradicts the data, people seem to side with the data.  That’s a problem.  Data are not reality.  Neither… (read more)

Good news! Christmas is a tiny bit less expensive this year – at least if you are buying the “traditional” gifts. The 2019 PNC Christmas Price index puts the price of purchasing all of the gifts for each day of the twelve days of Christmas at $170,298.03 (about $400 down from last year). Holiday time can be expensive… (read more)

“Why should I present data that don’t support my argument?” I get this question a lot. Many people believe that presenting the other side of the argument will weaken theirs. In my experience, presenting the counterpoint actually strengthens your argument.  It also helps build your credibility. There are four reasons that presenting the counter argument… (read more)

“We have to reduce costs. Please let me know you revised budget for the current year by next week.” That was the one of the first things I heard in my new role as Chief Learning Officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center several years ago. It was my first meeting as a member of… (read more)

A company was struggling with high operating costs. A quick review revealed that payroll costs were a key factor. Further review showed that the company was experiencing consistently high overtime. The company’s leadership asked a team of managers to come up with some possible solutions to the cost problem. Here is what they came up with: ·     Reduce… (read more)