Trust Is Built Before the Announcement
I saw the news about Apple’s new CEO come across my feed this week, and what caught me wasn’t the announcement itself, it was how little there was to say about it. No emergency board meeting. No investor panic. No thirty day scramble to find someone credible enough to steady the ship. Just John Ternus […]
The Mentor Who Told Me to Burn My Wardrobe Before I Led a Single Meeting
In the fall of 2009, I was named president of Cub Foods, a hometown grocery chain based in Stillwater, Minnesota, serving shoppers across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. I built my career at AT&T, IBM, and Pitney Bowes. Big companies, corporate ladders, and familiar terrain. Grocery retail was not familiar terrain. I had no experience with it. None. My direct reports knew that better than anyone. Many […]
THE WAIT IS OVER! UNCOMMON LEADERSHIP IS HERE!
A couple of years ago, shortly after I retired from Walmart, my grandson and I were talking about the news. Another day, another headline about a CEO, a pastor, or a public figure losing their job over something they should have known better than to do. He looked at me and said: “Pops, this isn’t […]
Every High Performer Has This Blind Spot
That’s the thing nobody talks about. When you’re hitting your numbers, when you’re closing deals, when you become the person leadership points to as an example, the people around you go quiet. Not because everything is fine, but because the cost of telling you the truth feels too high. I know this because I spent […]
The Listening Gap
Last article, I asked what most threatens trust during organizational change. The answer that dominated wasn’t communication gaps or shifting priorities. It was leaders becoming less visible. That result stayed with me, because I think it points to something deeper than presence or frequency. It points to whether people believe their leader is with them […]
Trust Moves At The Speed Of Consistency
Trust doesn’t erode in a single moment. It unravels one unkept promise at a time. Last article, I asked where you see the biggest gap between leadership intent and team experience. The answer wasn’t communication style, decision-making transparency, or even accountability. It was follow-through and consistency, by a wide margin. That result confirmed something I’ve […]
Why Leadership Today Feels Broken
The gap between what leaders intend and what people actually experience Something feels off in a lot of organizations right now. Teams are working. Strategies are in place. Goals are being set. But there’s still a disconnect. And it’s not always disengagement. More often, it’s uncertainty. Organizations are moving faster than clarity can keep up. […]
4 Questions That Will Help Determine An Organizations Change Readiness
Previously I shared that for any transformation effort to be effective, you must first have an appreciation that all change efforts start with understanding human nature (see “Managing Change Starts with Understanding Human Nature”); and, prior to undertaking any strategic change or transformation effort, organizations should undertake a Readiness Assessment to gauge if they are really ready […]
Organizational Change: Is Your Organization Really “Ready”?
After careful analysis and consideration, your organization has determined that in order to “take it to the next level”, there needs to be a change in strategy. The leadership team has done their SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). They have uncovered a “Blue Ocean” that will deliver exponential growth, and have used Six […]