Confidence is absolutely necessary to be a successful leader. And yet, gone too far, it can become arrogance and can lead to poor decisions – even disastrous decisions. How do we find a balance? One way to balance this is long term versus short term confidence. Long Term: “I am confident in . . . . . . the importance of our mission and the impact we make.” . . . the … [Read more...] about The Dark Side of Confidence
Experts Get Stuck in Status Quo
When you are stuck in the status quo there are a lot of things you miss. Opportunities are one of them. If you are sure that there is no better way of going about doing what you are doing, then you will for sure miss Opportunities. If you are an expert and you know that this certain way of doing things is the right way, then you will not see Opportunities for new ways to … [Read more...] about Experts Get Stuck in Status Quo
Strategic Plan? Oxymoron.
Strategy? Yes. Plans? Yes. Strategic Plan. No. Not exactly. What organizations need is a Strategy – an overarching general explanation of how they are going to guide their performance during the coming years. Then they need to build specific Plans to implement the Strategy. The Strategy should be targeted toward Strategic Stretch Goalsthat are designed to significantly … [Read more...] about Strategic Plan? Oxymoron.
More Effective SWOTing
Conducting SWOT analysis (identifying an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) is one of the most commonly used activities in strategic planning. It is also an activity most often done poorly. Here are three ideas to improve your SWOTing: 1. Be Systematic. Don’t just ask people on your strategic planning committee what they think your SWOTs … [Read more...] about More Effective SWOTing
Crosswalk Convert
This blog has nothing to do with strategy, leadership, or teamwork. Then again, maybe it does . . . I moved to a new neighborhood a couple of years ago. This changed my commute and took me down a street with a crosswalk in the middle of a very long block. I wasn’t used to a crosswalk that was not located at a street corner, so I did what everyone else did – I sped … [Read more...] about Crosswalk Convert