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Leading with Questions
Read more: Leading with QuestionsJob #1 of a leader isn’t to have all the right answers. No. Job #1 is to ask all the right questions. No one explains that better than my friend Bob Tiede. He’s been teaching leaders to ask better questions for more than a dozen years, through several books and the best blog on leading…
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Don’t be a hero when talking to customers
Read more: Don’t be a hero when talking to customersMost businesses make one big mistake in their communications: They cast themselves as the hero of the story. They talk about their awards. Credentials. Logos they’ve worked with. Product features. All focused on them. But customers aren’t looking for another hero. They are focused on their own journey. That’s been a good reminder recently as…
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The Secret to Leading Without Authority (And Why Everyone Must Be a Leader)
Read more: The Secret to Leading Without Authority (And Why Everyone Must Be a Leader)Ever wondered how some people seem to lead effortlessly, even when they don’t have the corner office or official title? I just finished Clay Scroggins’ “How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge,” and it perfectly captures something I’ve observed in my work: the most successful companies are those where everyone leads—starting with themselves. Scroggins…
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Education: Key to Adapting in a Disruptive World
Read more: Education: Key to Adapting in a Disruptive World“Education is inoculation against disruption.” Robin Sharma I read this line in The Wealth Money Can’t Buy and it immediately recalled two things for me. First was how different Black Friday is from a decade ago. There are no more newspapers filled with fliers in the days before. No more long lines at stores before…
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The importance of used book sales
Read more: The importance of used book salesIn one word, why are used book sales such an important part of my learning? Serendipity. I always find great books I wasn’t looking for. When I’m looking for a book to help me learn something, that’s a known unknown. But serendipity can lead me to an unknown unknown. It can lead me to learn…
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What are your grace notes to your customers?
Read more: What are your grace notes to your customers?In Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara recounts how everyone at his restaurant company was primed to seek out ways to improve the guest experience. One came up when a guest mentioned she would have to leave mid-meal to put some coins in a parking meter. They offered to do that for her, which obviously made it…
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The Role of Technology in the Customer Experience
Read more: The Role of Technology in the Customer ExperienceYour customer’s experience is almost entirely determined by their interaction with your people. Until you get that right, your space doesn’t matter, your technology doesn’t matter, nothing else really matters. Those are the thoughts I had while reading the Customer of the Future by Blake Morgan. It was written a few years ago, but still…
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Make a Holy Shift to Win With People
Read more: Make a Holy Shift to Win With PeopleThe COVID-19 pandemic changed our relationship to work. We’ve seen some of it in our language: quiet quitting, remote work, the Great Resignation, etc. But the changes are deeper, and as my friend Dan Michelson pointed out in his new book, Holy Shift, pandemics have always changed the relationship between employee and employer. He looked…
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What do you need to BE in 2023?
Read more: What do you need to BE in 2023?December is my trigger to start thinking about business goals for the next year. My process has two main steps. First, I go through my last four quarterly FLOW Planners, looking at where I spent my time, the wins I had, the goals I achieved, and the lessons learned. That time is critical because we…
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The Will to Rise Again
Read more: The Will to Rise AgainI grew up with the Fresh Prince – the TV show, the music, the movies, all of it. I’d heard good things about, Will, Will Smith’s autobiography and I wasn’t disappointed. There were lots of great stories and lessons from his life. I was ready to give this five stars until a disappointing ending. More…
