Integrity takes courage and it is totally transparent. When you see and hear it, you know it. At a recent session at the Simon Business School of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, integrity was examined in the context of growing high performing cultures. The graduate level students were passionate about the subject. Integrity … Read more

Just like parents watching one of our kids drive out of the driveway on that first date, we have to confront our fears and overcome them through trust. It takes courage to allow others to take the reins and make decisions, because they might fail. Something bad might happen. At the very least, the organization might underperform, and you could lose market share in the short run. But where would we be now had our parents not given us the keys for that first date?

The holiday season invariably leads to all kinds of resolutions for the coming year: lead a healthier lifestyle, go to church more often, spend money more wisely, lose weight and get in better shape, be a better parent, listen more to your partner/spouse, take some golf lessons, call Mom more often, etc., etc. If you’re like most of us, these resolutions decay as the New Year moves on, and after a couple of months we don’t even remember what we resolved to do. No surprise, then, that the resolutions never happen. For this New Year, we recommend taking a new approach.

How does your organization communicate your direction, your azimuth? How do you set your teammates up for success?  How do you set the conditions to encourage initiative?  How do your team members respond to the question, “In my company, is it better to ask forgiveness or permission”? Do you create a “bias for action” in … Read more