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Blog postThere is an entire section in our bookstores called "self-help." What we really need is a section called "help others."
To get a better job, you may not need to switch jobs at all.
There is one thing you can do that will not only help you find greater fulfillment, meaning and satisfaction in your career — you will also be helping the people around you create the same.
We feel our greatest achievements of success not when we accomplish something for -
Blog postAs Theresa May steps in as the new Prime Minister of Britain, she will be faced with the daunting task of unifying a divided nation. It’s an unenviable position for any leader; a thankless damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t job. In Theresa May’s case, if she goes through with the Brexit, she will infuriate half the population that thinks that’s a terrible idea and if she decides not to go through with it she will infuriate the other half that won a popular referendum. What is she to do?
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Blog postWhenever I read or hear a news story about the perplexing rise of Donald Trump, I myself am confused. Confused, not by Trump’s rise, but how predictable his rise was given the politics of the past decade.
The Republican Party did such an expert marketing job for the past 8 years that it actually worked. Being a “Washington insider,” for some reason, became a dirty thing. “Outsiders” were hailed as saviors. This gave rise to the Tea Party movement and laid the foundation for Donald Tru -
Blog postThe world is a bell curve. Class room test scores, employee performance in a company or how many people really, really like you. No matter the population you're studying, they always fit neatly across the standard deviations of the famous bell curve. The most important thing about the bell curve is that it is always balanced. If there are high performers on one side, there are low performers on the other. It is always balanced. Which brings me to the topic of this blog
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Blog postPost by David Mead
On a recent flight, as I often do after I board a plane, I was looking out the window as the ground crew was hussling to get the flight ready for take off. I happened to zero in on the guy who was hurling bags onto the conveyor belt, which led to the belly of the plane.
As I looked at him and tried to imagine what his work day must be like, I couldn't help wondering if he would even care if the airline he works for had a Why - a higher cause or purpose m -
Blog postPost by David Mead I have a theory that's based solely on my experience. I'm rarely the smartest, most experienced, most educated person in the room. I think a lot of us find ourselves in that position. It's tempting, when placed in a situation where we feel inadequate, to try to overcompensate - to prove like we belong at the adult table. We have two choices. Choice #1 -Show up in an attempt to prove that we're good enough, smart enough, experienced enough, or educated enoug
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Blog postPost by David Mead
Imagine if your boss walked into your office after a meeting about a particular initiative you were heading up and said, "You've been working on this project for a couple of weeks now and from the report you gave at the meeting, it's already behind schedule. What's going wrong?"
How does that feel?
Let's change your boss's comment, just slightly. "You've been working on this project for a couple of weeks now and from the report -
Blog postPost by David Mead
What makes us amazing as human beings is our ability to form communities and groups. Our survival and our progress has depended on working together. And yet, as it turns out, most people seem to miss the connection between success and progress in a business environment and the way we naturally form groups and communities.
Think of it this way - we gladly sacrifice time, energy, money and other resources to join groups, clubs, political parties and associ -
Blog postPost by David Mead
Recently, I was challenged on the idea of only hiring those who believe what we believe. The argument came from a place of genuine concern. The person who raised the concern was part of an environment where most of those who were hired were friends of those doing the hiring. They had gone to school together, enjoyed the same sports, rooted for the same teams. It was a classic 'Good ol' boy' hiring system.
It's not about hiring people who are just like us -
Blog postPost by David Mead
When we interview someone for a new job, we often find ourselves on the lookout for passion. We want to hire someone who is passionate. And that's usually where we stop. Well, everyone is passionate about something. Hiring a team of passionate people is not a guarantee that you'll accomplish anything great.
The point is not to hire someone with passion. The point is to hire someone who shares the passion your organization is working to bring to life. In -
Blog postPost by David Mead
There's a difference between management and leadership. Management is about doing stuff - the day to day operations needed for the tactical things to get done.
Leadership, on the other hand, is about people. It's less about what you're doing and more about who you're being. It's how you show up for your people. It's being available to handle the human side of things.
When we are constantly worried about the tactical - what deadlines to hit, w -
Blog postPost by David Mead
I was in Providence, Rhode Island recently on a speaking assignment. I was sitting in my hotel room when I heard some shouting and chanting outside. I went to the window and noticed a small group of people walking in a circle in front of the hotel, holding picket signs chanting something in Spanish.
Not understanding the language, and with the sound muffled through the window, I could only imagine it had something to do with a complaint about labo -
Blog postPost by David Mead
Fifty feet up the trail and already I knew things were going to be rough. My dad turned to me and said, 'Wow, I didn't think I'd be out of breath this quickly. I need to stop for a minute.'
We were about one minute in to a 2.5 mile hike up the very steep, varying terrain to Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock, which juts out 2000 feet above the Ryfylke fjord in Norway. At 77 years old, with diabetes and a growing problem with balance, this was not going -
Blog postBy David Mead
Like many of you, I subscribe to Groupon. If you're not familiar, Groupons are online coupons for about any product or service you can imagine. A few days ago, one of them hit my inbox and it made me chuckle a little bit. Initially I just trashed it because it wasn't an offer I was interested in. But just after that I realized how well it represented what so many companies are calling 'value'.
The deal of the day was from an auto center offering headlight restora -
Blog postBy Peter Docker
Whenever I can, I enjoy mountain or ‘fell’ running, occasionally entering a mountain marathon. It’s great exercise and one can get a completely different perspective of the world from the summit of a mountain.
Many would think that running uphill is the difficult part, but that just takes a bit of fitness and determination. The skill is being able to run downhill effectively, and those who compete well do so, in part, for their ability to run -
Blog postBy David Mead
A few months ago, a new, fancy auto service center opened up near my house. Let’s call it Fantastic Flynn’s. This place is over the top – gas station, car wash, detail shop, lube service, frozen yogurt – you could spend an entire Saturday afternoon there. Sounds great, right?
Well, the only pock mark on Fantastic Flynn’s beautiful facade that I can see is that every employee has been…strongly encouraged…to use the word ‘fantastic’ as often as possible. If I ask t -
Blog postBy Peter Docker
It seems that, sometimes, organisations are naturally attracted to making things complicated. We like to manage, to analyse, to strategise, to understand. And it can be very satisfying too, the ability to make sense of the complex and unknown. One might even say that it gives us a sense of power – the sort that comes from knowing stuff that others don't. Indeed, that's what seems to be expected of managers: to always know more than everyone else. It’s often how they've -
Blog postI discovered the concept of Why at a time in my life when I had lost my passion for what I was doing. This one simple concept not only restored my passion to levels I had never experienced before, it set me on an equally unexpected journey. I shared the concept with my friends and they asked me to share it with their friends...and more and more people invited me to share it with them.
Along the way I have met some remarkable people. Some have joined me in this movement to in -
Blog postAccording to scripture, Jesus Christ was forced to carry the very Roman cross upon which he would be crucified. There is an eerie correlation to this story and the life many of us lead today. We work hard to build the companies that then lay us off so they can make the numbers work that year.
I am not for a second comparing us to Jesus Christ (though I would imagine he would happily consider himself one of us), but I am comparing the practices of many a modern corporation to that of t -
Blog postInstagram announced a change to their privacy policies granting themselves ownership over all the pictures posted on the platform, including the right to sell pictures without permission or notification. They also grant themselves the right to make private pictures public, also without permission or notification. And, as if that wasn't enough, announced that they are not liable to any class action suit as a result of these new policies.
Not surprisingly, there has been a huge backlash -
Blog postI try, try, try and fail. Only then will I learn and improve the way to do things.
I go, go, go and trip. I stand up, brush off my knees, look back at what I tripped over so I know what to look out for in the future. Now I don't have to trip over those things again.
I run faster and faster and faster, then miss my turn and have to go back and try again. But now I know what signs to look for to keep me moving in right direction.
I go alone, alone, alone unt -
Blog postIn 1975 a young director with no big films credits under his belt, set out to make a horror film. Steven Spielberg wanted his film filled with violent and gory shark attacks. He wanted us to watch as this massive animal, built to kill, would attack his unsuspecting prey. But there was a problem. The mechanical sharks that were supposed play a staring role in the film rarely worked as expected. As much as the young director wanted graphic shark attacks, he couldn't have them.
Frustrate -
Blog postOne definition of a prostitute is someone who sacrifices their good name in order to make a buck. But what do you do when someone else is driven by the sale but it is your reputation that suffers as a result?
This is the risk run by any company that relies on a third party to sell their product. Franchisees, car dealers, distributors and affiliates are independent businesses that trade off of someone else's reputation. If a regional airline, for example, offers bad service it is -
Blog postThe economy is in a shambles. There is a total lack of leadership. Hope is at a minimum. The people feel out of control and, without a sense of optimism for the future, they lash out at anyone who is different from them. These are the conditions that existed in the 1930s that gave rise to Hitler and an extremely xenophobic Nazi Germany. The problem is, I'm not describing pre-war Germany, I'm describing modern day Greece.
Societies, like individuals, need to know where they are going. -
Blog postOn this July 4th, it is important for us to remember what we are celebrating. Yes it is the birthday of our nation, a day for family, BBQs and fireworks. But the reason we have this birthday to celebrate is because of the undying belief of some remarkable people who lived before us. Our founding fathers and their supporters believed that there was a better way to live. An alternative to living under the absolute control of an oppressive regime.
"We believe that a -
Blog post“Our customers are our number one priority,” is the oft heard mantra of so many companies these days. “We put our clients first,” is uttered by so many CEOs one loses track.
But there’s a problem with putting customers first. It means that employees come at least second.
Customers should never be the priority…people should be the priority. Some of those people buy from us, some of those people work for us, it’s only a behavioral difference. They are all people and all business -
Blog postLt Col. Mike "Johnny Bravo" Drowley is an Airman in the United States Air Force. Lt. Col. Mike Drowley believes there are fates worse than death. It is his undying commitment to others that guides his actions and decisions. He has bravery like few others we meet in normal society. He has humility like few others we meet in normal society. His character is very typical of many of those who put on a uniform and volunteer to serve a cause bigger than themslves.
I am proud to sh -
Blog postOn this particular night, Michael ordered the soup. “Is it vegetable stock or chicken stock?” he asked the waitress. “Vegetable,” she replied. “Are you sure,” Michael continued, “I can’t have it if it’s chicken based.” “It’s vegetable,” replied the waitress again confidently.
My friend Michael is a strict vegetarian. He loves going out for dinner with his friends and never complains. He can always find something to eat, he says. When we went out for dinner recently, I witnessed a litt -
Blog postIt’s hard enough that we have to talk about our strengths to others, but our weaknesses? That’s just the worst. Even more confounding, we’re only asked to talk about our weaknesses and our strengths in an interview, but after we get the job, we’re rarely ever asked to talk about what makes us so great again. Our weaknesses, however, seem to come up in every time we make a mistake or something goes wrong. So instead of learning to talk about what makes us great, it seems more valuable to
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Blog postStarting as a shoe salesman in the 1950's, Ben Prober went on to own a very successful chain of women's shoe stores. The prices at his stores weren't the cheapest. The selections weren't that much different from any other shoe store in town. And the stores themselves were pretty basic. They were nice enough, but nothing that our design-and-experience obsessed era would consider a competitive advantage.
With no apparent superior offering or value added, how did Prober Shoes managed to -
Blog postI felt sick. I wanted to curl up in a ball and be alone. I didn’t want to talk to anyone.
I was ashamed.
To most people, what I did would seem a trifle, but to me it was much deeper. I gave a talk to an organization that violates the very core of my beliefs. In my mind, I felt like a sellout.
In my pre-engagement calls, I had a bad feeling about this group. They treated me like some vendor. I could barely get a question in they were talking so much. They also sen -
Blog postYou need to talk to someone you can trust. There are two men standing there, one is wearing a long black robe with a cross around his neck. The other is wearing a t-shirt with a skull on the front and a pair of ripped jeans. The question is, whom do you choose?
Got it?
Now, I should also tell you, one of them is wearing clothes he borrowed from someone else.
This exact scenario is how many companies build their brands - they ask someone else if they can bor -
Blog postIn this day and age of soundbites and instant gratification, we often forget the value of spending time doing something of value.
We live in a world in which a YouTube video longer than 5 min is considered too long and the ideas that are supposed to change the world are only given a maximum time of 18 minutes on TED.com.
In our fast world, slow should not be a luxury reserved for time off on a beach or in a spa. Slow is a necessity. None of us learned to ride a bike in -
Blog postI spend nearly every single day talking about what it means to live your Why - to live with a sense of purpose, cause or belief. But what happens when we wake up one day without a sense of purpose or cause? What happens when we used to have clarity and it slips away?
That is what happened to me. But it didn't happen over a career. The feelings were exaggerated so much that it felt like I lived an entire life in just one day.
This is what I learned.
Click here to read a -
Blog postDear Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Larry Page and other CEOs of large American corporations:
I am sure you all saw the news when Steve Jobs died. The spontaneous, international show of mourning was nothing short of amazing.
My question is, do you think we will cry when you die?
The irony is that Jobs was more like you than like us. Jobs was a multi-billionaire who lived in a walled mansion and flew around on private jets when he traveled. Most of us never got to meet Jo -
Blog post“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks,” said David Darnell, co-COO of Bank of America, “and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee.”
This is a standard line when a plan to gouge customers backfires.
In the case of Bank of America, they didn’t propose, as Mr. Darnell attempted to explain, they implemented a plan in which customers were charged a $5 transaction fee to use their debit cards. It doesn’t take Nostradamus to predi -
Blog postThere have been many occasions when I’ve been on a plane and we hit some bad turbulence that my heart started pounding. I am not a nervous flyer, per se, but sometimes I imagine elaborate scenarios of all the things that are going wrong in the cockpit and it freaks me out. I’ll hear strange noises sometimes, and think it’s the end. I’ll start sweating. My heart will start beating harder and faster.
It happened last night again. I was on a flight cruising across the country to San Dieg -
Blog postMartin was a scrawny kid when he was in high school. He wasn’t that tall and he wasn’t that strong. He didn’t excel at any athletic activities and was an average student. By normal high school rules, Martin would be considered a target. A target for bullies, a target for ribbing from other students or even teachers.
But no one laid a finger on Martin. Not ever. And the reason was simple. Everyone liked Martin because he was funny. If anything, people enjoyed having him in their class -
Blog postIn the early 1980s, Steve Jobs and a few Apple executives visited the Xerox Corporation to see a new technology they had developed. It was called the Graphic User Interface or GUI – it allowed people to interact with a computer through a series of pictures and icons instead of having to know .dos or some other computer language.
At the time of the visit, Apple was hard at work developing the Lisa – it was to be their next big idea after the Apple II. They had poured millions of dollar -
Blog postFact: every single company cares about their customers...the difference is how they care about them.
I live on a block in New York City that has a Food Emporium on it. It is a sad excuse for a supermarket. The produce is very poor quality, the layout of the store is disastrous and the staff would much rather be somewhere else…at least that’s how they make the customers feel.
But recently, a Fairway Market moved in less than a block away from the Food Emporium. Fairway is -
Blog postToday we've lost a lighthouse. Steve Jobs, the man who stood for so much more than sleek design or innovation, the man who stood for people, is gone.
He was singularly devoted, not to technology, but how people interacted with technology. It wasn't for us to fit into a world of computers, it was for the computers to fit into a world of people. And that's what made Jobs different. That's what made Jobs special.
There are many great CEOs and there are great innovators, but we wo -
Blog postJill is an entrepreneur. She is a big thinker with big ideas. She is also an idealist. She imagines a world in which companies make their impact on society their primary bottom line and the financial results that follow as their second bottom line. She is smart and articulate and her ideas are really good, but she's struggling to get anyone to take her seriously.
What's the problem?
According to the companies that close the door on her, it's because she's only 24. -
Blog postCareers are like a shark, to be successful we have to keep moving forwards.
In order to breathe, most sharks have to keep moving at all times. The forward motion allows the oxygen rich water to pass into their mouths over their gills and out through the gill slits. If they stop moving forwards, their gills won't work, they won't be able to breath and they will sink to the bottom and die. This system is called "obligate ram ventilation."
Obligate - as in obligatory, -
Blog postThe young artist who was told by their high school math teacher that they were lazy.
The son who was told he’s going to screw up his life because he didn’t want to become an accountant like his dad.
The employee who was passed over for a raise or a promotion and was, instead, given a growth plan to help them overcome their weaknesses in order to make it to the next level.
Even the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry – almost everything in this world is gear -
Blog postPart 2
We're told all our whole lives that money can't buy happiness. The fact is, that's simply not true. Money can buy happiness. What money can't buy is lasting happiness. What money can't buy is fulfullment. That takes something else.
Here is the second part of a videoed conversation I had about where fulfillment comes from and how we can find lasting happiness.
So you don't have to look it up, here is Part 1.
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Blog postI returned from Afghanistan this week. I went as a guest of the Air Force to experience the remarkable work they do, first hand. "The grand ballet," the Commander of Air Mobility Command calls it. I flew on various types of aircraft on various kinds of missions. I watched an air drop, supplying soldiers on the ground with fuel, water and ammunition. I rode on an aeromedical evacuation as 37 wounded soldiers and marines were brought home, one in critical condition. There was one more
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Blog postA few days ago, a 9-year-old girl named Rachel Beckwith died in a pileup on I-90 in Washington state. Her spinal chord was severed and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her life.
June 12th was her last birthday and for her birthday Rachel told everyone that she didn't want any presents and she didn't want a party. Instead, she wanted her friends to donate $9 to Charity Water." Her big crazy goal," said her pastor, "was to raise $300 so that 15 kids in Afri -
Blog postPart 1.
The discovery of Why taught me a valuable lesson: fulfillment, that sense of prolonged happiness in our lives, is not a luxury. In fact it is our right.
I am undertaking a little project to write a manifesto - a statement of belief - to help capture this movement that we are a part of. To put into words the world we imagine and a roadmap to get there.
I sat down with some of the folks on my team, people devoted to this cause, to tell them what I'm up to and wha -
Blog postAh...the spa. A place of serenity, calm and oneness with the universe. A place where we can go to escape the hustle and bustle and be treated as human beings. A place where looking after your mind, body and spirit is of the utmost importance. Well...for paying customers, anyway.
It turns out that all that Zen idealism doesn't apply to all living things. There’s a high-end spa I know in a major metropolis that doesn’t treat its employees very well. I was talking to one of the ma
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El juego infinito: ¿Sabes a qué estás jugando? (Gestión del conocimiento) (Spanish Edition)
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