“Small steps to create urgency have a massive impact.”  This statement really caught my eye in a recent blog post from Piper Harris, an Atlanta, GA based leadership coach. As someone who is naturally action oriented, I have a radar that flashes when I observe a lack of urgency to fix critical problems or to make changes that can have a large and positive impact. It can very frustrating to deal with these delays in action, whether it be with a boss, a colleague, a customer or even with a close friend. How should we define the phrase “sense of urgency”? In his recent book,Read More →

It is probably human nature, but when asked about a business problem or the reason for a dip in performance results, the responses that I often hear are about something or someone else and the responder forgets to look in their own backyard. If we changed this tendency and did look internally first, we would solve problems and improve organizational results at a much faster pace. Here’s what I mean…. In Sales: I worked in sales organizations for many years and when employees were not meeting their sales quota the most common reasons given were that their sales quota was too high or that theirRead More →

You need to experience the pain, in order to drive organizational gain. I recently read the Harvard Business Review article, “Tipping Point Leadership”, which talked about Police Chief Bill Bratton, and how he transformed New York from the city with the highest crime rate to the city with the lowest crime rate through a series of very effective changes. Bratton used tipping point leadership techniques to make this happen, which included aligning resources with the most important changes, silencing naysayers and mobilizing strategic and respected players in the change activities. However, the technique that stood out the most to me was this: “To make aRead More →