Somewhere in the middle of the COVID years, I shrank. Not all at once. It happened gradually. I built some strong virtual relationships during the lockdown, so when things opened back up, I stuck with that way of doing things. I turned down trips and offered Zoom instead. I skipped conferences, coffees, and lunches —…
I’ve been subjected to a lot of team-building exercises. Trust falls, Lego building contests, finding your “color” and learning what it tells everyone about your personality, even a drum circle, and a croquet tournament. Some of these were “fun,” I learned from others, but I’m not sure any had as much impact as the time…
I was talking to a CEO last week, and the story she told me fit a pattern I’ve been thinking about. She had been running her business for about 7 years. During that time, she found a niche, got focused on it, and the business grew. She’s now at the point where she understands the…
For about 5 years I was a solo parent of 3 school aged kids. During that same period I was starting my consulting business. It was a busy time! I spent a tremendous percentage of my of time feeling like I was behind, under resourced, and generally failing. This was not a situation that cultivates…
Twenty-five years ago this month, I was unceremoniously dumped out of the corporate world. While I had job offers, I knew some of what didn’t work in that last job would still be there in these new ones, so I decided to try something else. I chose to bet on myself. The early days of…
Is the drive to achieve a powerful motivator for you? If so, it’s likely been a positive force in your life–that drive, along with grit and hard work, has likely brought you acclaim and success. But, I’ll bet that no matter how hard you work, or how much you’ve achieved, you’re still pushing for more….
Imagine we live in a world where everyone wears glasses that have a particular distorting effect. When you wear the glasses, your senses notice only the positive in what others have or do and diminish what you have or do. Through those glasses, my experience would be: What would it be like to live with…
My last message, “The Displaced CEO,” elicited a strong reaction. Many of you replied to that email, telling me how attracted you are to the tactical, short-term priorities and how difficult it is to stay in the Architect’s seat. One CEO was even more pointed. She said, “I want to sit in the heavy silence of…
In most organizations, attention aligns in layers. Frontline staff solve today’s problems. Managers handle the month. Directors own the year. But there is only one role in the company designed to look over the horizon. To identify where the market is going and how we will win there. That is the role of the Architect….
When I was a young leader, our company followed a rhythm you could set your watch by. We would hold a strategic planning meeting in the spring to review our core purpose and values, progress on our BHAG, and update the five-year plan. Over the summer, we turned that plan into a budget that we’d…