When I moved into a senior leadership position in early 2023 I found a core skill to be missing in the leadership team. Almost no one led with their conclusion and instead built up their position through a lengthy speech. Almost to a person on the team it was clear that this skill hadn’t been…
Quick Update
In early 2023 I took a leadership role overseeing two companies. While I’ve been dealing with that, I’ve had little time for anything else.
Think about what you’re doing.
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you…” – Steve Jobs The definition of decision fatigue is a state of mental overload that impedes your ability to make [good] decisions. I throw “good” in here because when I’m overwhelmed with decisions i find myself either…
Successful teams…
In the Agile Manifesto you’ll find Individuals and interactions over processes and tools and if your teams are only talking to each other over email or Jira comments to “preserve a record” then you’re losing the team’s cohesion. They’re not a team if they only use Jira to communicate with each other, successful teams are not…
Make User Stories Easily Understandable at a Glance
One of my major complaints about creating “user stories” is that the discipline of writing “User Stories” has diminished and they become written so that only the person creating the story actually knows what is expected. In many organizations, anyone can write a user story. I have no problem with that as long as the…
Stronghold Rescue and Relief
Stronghold Rescue and Relief provides protection and support for families in conflict zones. Operations are currently underway in Burma and Venezuela. You can become a supporter by visiting their website at StrongholdRescue.org. For a video of how Stronghold Rescue began, as well as a summary of their mission, here’s a link a YouTube video. It’s…
Take care of people because people take care of customers.
Trust. I believe this is the single most important word when understanding why people work the way they do. I trust that you will do everything possible to make that customer’s experience with us outstanding. Without trust then people will not put themselves out there for clients. They know they will get blamed, second-guessed, and…
Stewardship.
It took me a long time to write this. I’ve been in companies where the main focus of the senior management team was their own bonuses. It was literally said in front of me (they forgot I was in the meeting) “Layoffs are coming but don’t worry, your bonuses are safe.” For me, leadership consists…
The thread of the value prop runs through the entire company.
Think of the value proposition(s) as a thread that starts with the client and runs through every part of your company. Include any first, second, or third degree touchpoint with a client. In other words, any team that affects another team, that affects a team that works with the client. At any point that thread…
Make it easy for people to deliver outstanding results to customers.
Business processes and systems trend toward entropy. If left on their own then the only result can be disorder. The people who are at the mercy of this disorder are those that speak with and support clients and customers. We don’t make it hard to deliver great results to customers, it just happens. Take an…