so your vision is never lost.
LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, discusses the difference between consultants and guides. Let’s start with the definition of consultants: “People who provide expert advice professionally.” (from Merriam Webster) They then tell you what you need to do and then leave. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a guide as “a person who leads or directs other people on a journey.” The next time you are wondering if you should hire a consultant or if you have had […]
In our work with leaders and teams, we hear a number of reasons why success is not possible. It is shocking to hear some of these objections, since every past successful endeavor has had to overcome all of these issues. It is interesting that we hear these objections from teams that are less mature as well as those made up of experienced, “blooded” professionals. The less mature teams will publicly share these objections. More experienced teams will share these in […]
This weekend we watched the period piece called “Wives and Daughters”. While a fun “Jane Austen” type of movie, it had lots of soap opera machinations and manipulation. It is great fun to watch that in a movie but not much fun to live in real life. That is why The 2nd Law of Hadley is “The best game is no game!” There are 3 ways to get someone to behave in a certain way: Coercion: Forcing someone to do […]
In this week’s video blog our expert guide, Don Hadley, talks about Operations and Allocations. Today’s leaders tend to have an operations background and thus focus on how to run more effectively. Many of our clients focus on this but they miss the cash that is generated through the operations and capacity and to allocate or borrow on that capital. Successful leaders and organizations typically also spend 80% of their time focused on Capital Allocations. Time should be spent […]
Recently, we conducted two tough meetings (or we should say, tough for our clients): One tough meeting had to do with cash flow. The owners were trying to determine the next time they would get into dangerous territory. It took 2 1/2 hours, and we identified that come January there would be a $700,000 shortfall. It was frustrating, but the good news is that at least we now knew what the situation was and could really do something about it. […]
The mind and heart can envision and feel great things, but so many times there is a disconnect in where we are today vs. where we desire to be. While there are many necessary pieces to bridging that gap, one of the key girders is accountability: the willingness to do what one says. Part of this is holding each other accountable. There must be both individual and team accountability for a business to work effectively. I am reminded of Peter […]
Without a long term view of the future, people in organizations have a tendency to get focused on smaller details and get bogged down with what is not critical. When business is tough, they become even more entrenched and bogged down. The human mind will focus on something and it will choose whatever is closest at hand. The negative issues seem to feel bigger and can overwhelm the team. Incremental improvements do not seem worth the effort and improvements stop. […]
Mid-Level Leaders and Managers have it tough because they are caught in the middle between bosses and workers. There is an art form to performing well in the middle and the right people take successful joy in it. In our 30 years of working with organizations to get successful results and live better lives, we see mid-level leaders as critical bridges on the journey to creating one big team, one family, one culture. Download May’s Compass Check
Why are people not logical? We would then be like computers, predictable, and yet breaking down at the first missing bit of data or at the first amount of data overload. We could not get to better answers because we would be preprogrammed for a set outcome. With emotion, we are able to break patterns and to weave new ones. It gives us a shot at new and better possibilities. Some of those possibilities we may not have ever considered […]