I always cringe when I hear the word “engagement.” And it’s not because I’m scared of commitment. Quite the opposite! Those engagements are pretty cool and I’ll forever be impressed with the ingenuity and creativity people employ just to trick someone else into putting up with them for an entire lifetime. But when it comes…
Forced fun. The tell-tale sign of organizations and teams struggling with building a strong culture. Why? Because nobody wants to admit their team culture might be lacking. Instead of addressing the elephant in the room, organizations try to substitute forced fun as a solution for the gaps in their culture. After all, everyone enjoys having…
December 1st brought the beginning of the Connection Challenge (you can read about it here) and I’m happy to report I’m still alive halfway through the experience. Yay! So far, none of the participants have perished either, so all in all, I consider that a huge win. One component of the experience is a 30-day…
Hiring a strong sales staff has always been a top priority for sales organizations, regardless of the impacts technology and changing consumer behaviors have brought to the field. What has impacted the hiring process the most recently is the type of candidate you’re looking to hire – Millennials. As I’m sure you already know, trends…
Stay Young, My Friends. Recently between speaking engagements, I found myself with way too many hours to kill at the airport before my flight. Instead of pulling up to the counter and indulging in a few adult beverages, I decided to walk the terminals, do some people watching, and listen to ESPN’s 30 for 30…
As Dave Chappelle taught us, sometimes keeping it real can go wrong. But we don’t all have to be like Vernon Franklin. Keeping it real can pay off, too. When I was 25 years old and three years into my corporate career, I found myself invited to speak with the top brass at the company.…
Andrew Luck retired over the weekend. The former #1 overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft hung up his cleats before the season officially began and the news of his decision sent ripples through sports media, talk shows and the Internet. After all, he’s one the best quarterbacks in the NFL and he’s only 29…
We are being led to believe employees – people who were once so blindly loyal to an employer because they were lucky enough to be employed – are now suddenly shifting the dynamics at play in the work environment and jumping from company to company faster than Popeye’s chicken sandwiches can sell out. That’s crazy…
Last year I did an event for a large manufacturing company in Wisconsin. As I do with all of my clients, I spoke with them beforehand to discuss their main goals for the engagement, which helps me capture the spirit of the event and how I might incorporate company-specific concepts into my content. This client…
The Internet is (mostly) a wonderful thing. In an instant, we can share knowledge or insight with the world. We can learn from others who are experts in a particular field. We can join conversations with people we’ve never physically met. I’m convinced the power it has given us to have a voice and platform…