Imagine that you are an HR director. One of your responsibilities is to ensure your department is up to date on its annual compliance training. Recently, your company rolled out a new sexual harassment course. At the end of the course, participants are given a test. They must score 90% or higher to pass. If not, …
Read more “Facts are for wimps. Decisions are where the action is.”
I often have trouble filling out applications to speak at leadership conferences. They ask for four or five specific measurable objectives for the day. That’s not the actual problem. I certainly want to be held accountable for creating a meaningful change in my audience. The problem is the way they want those objectives to be …
Read more “Skills shmills! Let’s start focusing on leaders’ minds!”
Back by popular demand… The 2017 PNC Christmas Price index puts the price of purchasing all of the gifts for the twelve days of Christmas at $157,558.00 (up 0.7% from last year). Holiday time can be expensive but it doesn’t have to be for good leaders. The following list contains gifts that will last a lifetime. Best of all, …
“Employee engagement has been consistently falling for three years.” I thought it was a pretty straightforward statement. I continued my presentation but the senior executive stopped me. “Wait, where’s the data?” she asked. “What data?” I didn’t think I had made a particularly contentious point. “The data that shows that employee engagement has been consistently falling …
Once during a workshop break, a senior vice president from a Fortune 100 company approached me. He said, “You know Brad, our company collects and processes more data than almost any other company in the world.” He was proud of this fact. Not wanting to deflate him, I gently replied, “That’s interesting but home come you always …
Read more “Data isn’t about show and tell. It’s about decide and act.”
Imagine that you are a pilot trying to land a plane in extreme conditions. As you breakthrough the cloud ceiling you see the runway. However, there is a plane sitting right where you are supposed to land! Would you see it? A study[1] reported by Dan Simons and Chris Chabris in their book “The Invisible Gorilla” …
Read more “Focus comes from removing, not adding. Stop highlighting and color-coding your data.”
The “Beer and Diapers” story is a famous big data legend. As with many legends, the story has become more spectacular and fabricated over time. Also like many legends, the story does have some basis in fact. For those who haven’t heard it, here is a common version: Back in the 90s, Osco Drug ran an affinity analysis …
For most of my life I’ve played the piano I started taking lessons in third grade. I continued through my senior year of high school. In college, I’d wander to the music building nearly every day and practice for an hour. At the peak of my ability, I was probably a very good amateur. A …
Change management is a hot topic in many leadership circles. Many of my clients have built it into their leadership competency models. There is a general concern that leaders aren’t equipped to handle change. There is also overwhelming evidence that this concern is valid. Many studies have shown that major change initiatives often fail. According to the Change Management …
Read more “The pace of change hasn’t changed. Leaders have.”
***** Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and… Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten? Nigel Tufnel: Exactly. Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder? Nigel Tufnel: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. …
Read more “Why there is no Category Six for hurricanes. Aligning your data and decisions.”