Blog

I’ve written before about the importance of having the right morning routine—but today, I want to pan back and talk about something even more basic: Simply put, the way you structure your days can have a big impact on your productivity. It’s not enough to have a to-do list; to maximize your energy, your creativity,Read more

Where does company culture come from? That’s a more complicated question than you might think. My personal belief is that culture emanates largely from the people on your team—from their shared values and objectives. With that said, I also think team leaders play a significant role in shaping and codifying that culture.   So whatRead more

What are you afraid of?   No, really. Take just a moment to take inventory of the things that cause you to tremble. You don’t have to say them out loud, but do keep them in mind—because in this post, I want to talk candidly about fear.   A little bit of fear can beRead more

One of my favorite things to talk about is transformational leadership—and the more I coach and present on this topic, the more I become convinced in the centrality of active listening.   Here’s why: To be a true transformational leader—an agent of change at your company—you’ve got to constantly be open to ways things couldRead more

All of us want to be more productive. All of us want to get more things accomplished. And all of us face the same basic set of obstacles—with email being foremost among them.   Be honest: How much time do you lose to email each day? Think about the time it takes you to answerRead more

Here’s an uncomfortable truth for business owners and team leaders: Right now, many of your employees are fine-tuning their New Year’s resolutions—and some of them may have resolved to find a new job in the coming year.   Chances are, that’s not something you want; the cost of employee turnover is quite high, and ifRead more

We’re knee-deep into the New Year’s resolution season—the part of the year where many of us make goals for personal or professional self-improvement. Yet goal-setting itself is a learned skill, and it’s not necessarily one that comes easily to every business leader.   Ironically, you may benefit from making it your goal to set betterRead more

In the life of any business, HR decisions have to be made—decisions about hiring, training, firing, and beyond. That’s why medium- and large-sized companies have HR professionals or even entire HR departments to make sure these decisions are made judiciously. Indeed: When handled incorrectly, even a seemingly minor HR decision can come back to biteRead more

Every company has a culture, whether you’re aware of it or not. The question is, are you being intentional about building a strong company culture—or are you simply allowing it to happen haphazardly? I don’t need to tell you that just hoping for a positive company culture is a bad approach. I also don’t needRead more

As a leader, it falls to you to make countless decisions every single day, including decisions both major and miniscule. The cumulative effect of all these decisions can frankly be exhausting. Over time, you may develop an acute case of decision fatigue—exhaustion at all the choices you have to make each day, which can makeRead more