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Legend tells us that Alexander the Great visited the city of Gordia, in asia minor, before he conquered most of the known world. The shrine in the city held an oxcart that was fastened to a pole using an intricate knot with no loose ends. It had been prophesied that the one who could solve this Gordian knot would become the king of the world. The Alexander solution to the problem of the Gordian knot has become a timeless metaphor for the solution of intractable problems. It was, according to himself, his greatest victory.

There are actually two different solutions to the Gordian knot with somewhat different implications. Aristobulus tells us that Alexander removed the pole from the oxcart and thereby exposed the loose end of the knot. This implies that sometimes, the way forwards is to look for a clever shortcuts that cut through all the difficult steps. The other account, the classical one, from Plutarch tells us that Alexander used his sword and cut the knot in two. This would invite us to look for an elegant out of the box solution, simple and resolute or perhaps even a brute force solution. The key to either of these solutions is to look at the problem from a new perspective or to redefine the goal.

Read More »Solving The Unsolvable In 3 Steps

Another aspect of creating leaders in your organization is how assignments for subordinates are designed and managed. I was very lucky in my first management position to be overwhelmed immediately.  What happened was that I was managing a group of… Read More »Creating Leaders in your Organization, Part 2: Leadership and Delegation

Emerging leadership in organizations can be developed, suppressed or ignored.   Unfortunately, rather than encourage the emergence of leadership, it is often not considered, or even worse, suppressed. Leadership, as distinguished from management, is present when unprecedented results are produced through… Read More »Creating Leaders in Your Organization, Part 1: Talk is Not Cheap

In most organizations and communities there are a series of agreements that are so clearly ingrained that they have become part of the culture.  Mostly, they are not discussed, but they constitute assumptions about how things are.  They are virtually… Read More »Background Conversations: What’s At The Top Of Your Ladder?

“It how’s not what you say to the players that counts, it’s what they hear.”

–Red Auerbach, Former Head Coach of the Boston Celtics and 9-time World Champion (in a 10-year span)

Communication is often assumed (or explicitly said) to be a matter of transmitting information from a sender to a receiver. Personally, I think that’s simply broadcasting. Real communication includes both the sending and the receiving—the mutual sharing of the information—and therefore, if it’s not received, it’s not actually communication.

If this is true, you may find that a whole lot of what you thought was communication, really wasn’t. You may also find that this gives you a new perspective from which to craft your communications and that there are some immediate opportunities for increasing your effectiveness and impact. Whether in terms of your marketing, sales, leadership, teamwork or relationships, communication is key—and you can only make the difference you want to make to the degree that your communication is effective.

Read More »From Connection to Action

Constructive criticism is, well, constructive. There is no such thing as “constructive criticism that is hurtful”. There is constructive criticism and there are failed attempts at constructive criticism. How one knows if the criticism was constructive is by looking at the results.  If the recipient of said critique is left empowered and has greater clarity after than before, this is constructive.  Intending to give constructive criticism and leaving someone less effective, is not.  It would serve most of us to develop our skills at both giving and receiving critique.  When it actually happens the giving of constructive criticism, is a gift.  It makes the recipient more effective and leaves him or her, with increased confidence in their ability.

Read More »The Gift of Constructive Criticism

Saying that you’re “customer-service oriented” is not a differentiator. Actually being of service, as demonstrated by contribution and delivering significant value, is. The ability to discern what’s wanted and needed, with the willingness and tools to provide it, will set you apart both in how you are perceived and the results you produce.

While many people in business speak of service (customer service, servant-leadership, etc.), few are willing to step out and provide tremendous value without assurance of direct return. Though that approach seems to make sense and may even seem “obvious” from a traditional business view, it is precisely that “obviousness” that I want to explore. When you examine the validity of the underlying assumptions of the “me first” mentality, you may end up with some new opportunities for impact that would have otherwise eluded you. 

Read More »Service: Delivering Value For Its Own Sake

Bring to mind something that you’ve committed to regarding your business or work, and then haven’t fulfilled on. Take a moment to think of something specific. Ok, now why didn’t you fulfill on that? What had you not come through?… Read More »Reasons vs. Results