I was confidently rolling through my day when I got an email intended for someone else. It was a strongly worded message criticizing my leadership, sent by a colleague who felt they’d been poorly treated. Seeing that felt like a punch in the stomach. And the discussion that followed was really hard. But, like many
It annoys my wife that I always ask the server at a restaurant for a food recommendation. You see, it’s more than a request for guidance. It also may reveal the server’s authenticity. A couple of tell-tale signs that they’re not being authentic: They recommend the most expensive items on the menu. They say something
Your customers have an education dilemma. On the one hand, they can easily learn (via internet and social networks) about what they want, how much it costs and where they should get it. On the other hand, they often don’t know what they haven’t thought to ask. A trend in selling over the past five
Last week we discovered a pool of water sitting on our basement carpet. From the ceiling above, broken drywall fell in clumps. A complete mystery lurked behind that drywall. I thought the water was seepage from rainwater through the foundation. My wife thought it was coming from a leaking pipe. Others thought it was due
Last Friday, my dear grandmother passed away. She modeled a life of grace, strength, and love for everyone who knew her. As a tribute to her leadership, I invite you to read the following post which was originally published just over two years ago… We all have role models, people who show us the way,
I facilitated a workshop recently on the topic of “Leading Change,” and a senior hospital leader spoke up with a question: “You’ve been talking about gaining cooperation and commitment from people to change,” she said. “But when has that effort gone too far? When do you just need to tell people, ‘This is how it’s
In the hours before I sat down with my client for a sales conversation, here’s what I had been thinking: I’m really busy delivering work right now. I’d like to sell more work in the coming months. I’m tired of traveling and want to get some good sleep. Here’s what I’m pretty sure the client
I attended a leadership conference several years ago, and two things I heard still stand out. One had to do with parenting; the other was one line: Leadership is influence. The reason that line was memorable is that the speaker, an executive from a large, well-known company, repeated it many times throughout his presentation. And
When U.S. economic leaders gathered in April 2000 to celebrate ten years of prosperity, Alan Greenspan announced that they had figured out the model for success. “I do not believe we can go wrong,” he said. Well, he was wrong. After that meeting, the economy was hit with two recessions, the largest financial crisis in
My favorite partner at Accenture (my brother-in-law) likes to say that “delivery trumps all else.” He’s right, but “delivery” is only your ticket to play. People who do good work and also sell their work have far greater control over their success than those who just do the work. In other words, the winner will
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE