Part 1 of 3 “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter Drucker In my ongoing search for ordinary leaders doing extraordinary things, I’ve interviewed a woman who exemplifies so many of the characteristics of leadership in a field where finding women in senior leadership roles is uncommon. I’ve …
Continue reading Kerryn Fulton, CEO, C.S. Davidson, Inc. (Transformation)
When Sally and I took our trip to Scotland, one of the places we stopped was to see the Firth of Forth Bridge, just west of Edinburgh. It was considered Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder and carries trains across the more than 8,000 feet of track across the Firth of Forth. The bridge was built between …
Continue reading Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Roles of the Leader)
Everyone seems to want to change something about themselves – their weight, their physical conditioning, improve their health, create new work habits, get better at their jobs, learn something new or achieve something great. They really want to make these changes. In fact, many people who seek out a coach are really asking for help …
One of our long-standing traditions at Christmas is watching our favorite Christmas movies. It begins with “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” on Thanksgiving – the official opening of the Christmas season in the Davis house – and then the parade of classics begins: “White Christmas,” “Christmas in Connecticut,” “ It’s A Wonderful Life,” “The Gathering,” and …
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” – Alan Greenspan Joe (not his real name) came to me with a problem one day. He was frustrated with one of his long-tenured employees who never seemed to …
Continue reading Some of the Greatest Challenges in Organizations (Effective Requests)
“Any problem in an organization or relationship is directly related to a conversation not being had or one being held poorly.” – Julio Olalla Julio's words rang true the first time I heard them. In 2006 I had the privilege of sitting in a conference room where he was conducting a coaching course. He had …
Continue reading Some of the Greatest Challenges in Organizations (Conversations)
I once worked for a great guy who claimed he only needed four hours of sleep a night. He was constantly drinking coffee to “stay sharp” and his diet was out of control. An elite athlete in college, he hadn’t seen the inside of a gym in years and his once finely tuned physique had …
Continue reading The One Non-Negotiable Key to Effective Leadership (Energy)
“Culture is the system of shared beliefs (what is true), shared values (what is important) and shared norms (what is right) that orient members about the way things get done in their organization, what expectations they need to fulfill to fit in, and what they can expect – and demand – from others.” – Fred …
Continue reading What is True, Important and Right? (Culture)
Part 3 of 3 - In this post, we complete our interview with Jim Carchidi, CEO of JFC Staffing Companies. Here's what Jim's direct reports have to say about his leadership and its impact: “Jim has been instrumental in creating a culture at JFC that most only get to read about in business books. The …
Part 2 of 3 Last post, we shared a portion of two interviews held with JFC Staffing’s CEO, Jim Carchidi. Jim calls himself the Chief Enthusiasm Officer of JFC and he exudes a mood of enthusiasm – the emotional state where we can see infinite possibilities in every situation – and his mood is infectious, …
