The Starbucks experience changed for me yesterday, and I’m looking for a substitute. Yesterday morning, as we often do, we had a great walk on a beautiful day in the nature center. After our walk, a visit to our favorite Starbucks store. There was no line at the cashier’s station. Only three attendants were behind…
We all carry cards, have titles, responsibilities, comp systems and offices that define our formal roles at work. Also, each member in every work group has an informal role, both self-selected and assigned by the group. This selection process doesn’t happen according to any traditional method but develops over time, through the process of discovering…
Each Father’s Day weekend I take the opportunity to speak to all my sons about life. We will do it again this weekend. Several years ago, I wrote the passages below, and they are even more appropriate today. Give your kids a big hug and some sage advice this weekend. To my sons on Father’s…
In the rural Midwest where I was born and, I am told, in the rural south as well, the federal holiday now known as Memorial Day was called Decoration Day. Only in recent decades have people there begun to say Memorial Day. I remember well the annual practice of going to cemeteries with my family…
During discussions of change I often ask coaching clients how they think Artificial Intelligence may become standard in their business. The answers make it clear that for those of us embroiled in managing business every day not much thought goes into AI yet. It will not be long, perhaps 5 years until several forms of…
Patricia Deck, my wife and inspiration, is an artist. She has studied for decades to increase her painting skills. Color, texture, composition and brush stroke are languages and she is fluent in all. Patty can produce wonderful works in oil, acrylic, pastel or water color. However, those marvelous skills cannot alone or even in tandem produce art. When art emerges,…
We are deep into a political campaign to top them all. The very nature of this particular debate process is divisive. Harsh words fall like rain from virtually all of the candidates. We cannot look up without encountering vitriol from all directions. I’ve been a life-long persuader, but for the past couple of years my…
To depart from the usual business stories and athletic metaphors, come with me for a short journey into the performing arts, where teamwork is every bit as important in aesthetic pursuits as it is in more familiar areas. This past weekend, along with over 50 other singers, a dozen members of the orchestra and another…
Near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on Prince’s Inlet, rests a dilapidated excursion boat. I understand it was used in the 1940s and 50s as a whale watching craft. We are here again this year on a painting vacation staying in the home of a friend. The house overlooks the water of Prince’s Inlet. This small bay…
For the past two weeks I have posed the same question to several members of my Vistage groups here in south Florida with fascinating results. That question is, what if the economic situation has masked a paradigm shift in your industry? Most of us only really know that revenue has fallen, often sharply compared to…