Empathetic leadership has always been important. But it really matters right now. The COVID-19 pandemic and all of its fallout have created extreme, accelerated change in a very compressed time frame. Employees’ lives at work and at home have been turned...

At times we all want to change what’s happening around us. Most of the time, we can’t. What we can do is shift our perspective. We can see the world from a place of gratitude, and that leaves little room for focusing on the things that weigh us down and make...

In a recent presentation for the Gratitude Symposium, Dr. Stephen Beeson explained that a sense of collegiality, community, and belonging is the most powerful countermeasure to burnout. While Dr. Beeson’s work was focused on healthcare (you can find his...

I am a huge fan of benchmarking others. When we are trying to solve a problem or improve results, it makes a lot of sense to learn from those who have already figured it out. Seeking out and harvesting best practices from others is a lot more efficient than trying to...

Living in Pensacola, Florida, since 1996, I have gained experience with hurricanes. I know what it’s like when they hit. There is the fear of the impact, the preparation for the storm, the actual storm, and then the rebuild. Right after the storm, depending on how...

When speaking on leadership topics such as communication, I often explain to people that I am like a plumber whose own house has leaky pipes. (My apologies to all plumbers.) My point is that my companies often struggle with the exact same operational items that I am...

All employees make a difference in the lives of others. In certain fields, this is easy to see, just by the nature of the job. But the truth is, every leader and employee in every industry makes a difference in the lives of coworkers, customers, or both. All jobs are...

Sometimes we have employees who excel at one small part of a job, but they behave inappropriately or otherwise do things that don’t live up to company standards. In the past few weeks, this subject has come up twice. On two separate occasions, company owners came to...

I have always believed in diagnosing before treating. When we want to get better in some area, whether it’s in how we lead or outside of work, we first need a realistic picture of our challenges. Tracking ourselves is a great diagnostic tool. It shows us exactly what...

A frequent question I receive is “How do you know when it is time to let someone go for poor performance?” This is not about obvious offenses like not showing up for work, stealing, bullying, harassing, etc. It is about the tougher calls. A good supervisor hopes all...