A friend of mine, John March, caught up with me recently to pick my brain about the connection between leadership and values. The topic, which is personal for both of us, led to interesting insights and self-awareness. I’ve captured a bit of our discussion below to share with you in the hopes that his questions
How much of what you urgently respond to is truly important for you to do? How much of what you’re neglecting is really the most important to get done? Your overall success may well hinge on how you answer these two questions. In 1967 Charles Hummel wrote a powerful essay about these two questions called
People like me. OK, not everyone. And it’s not that I’m a “big deal.” But for the most part, I’m seen as a likeable guy. But why? It’s something I’ve been wondering about recently. Throughout my entire life, I’ve always had strong relationships, and I continue to maintain meaningful and helpful relationships with people I’ve met
Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed. – Dale Carnegie One of the hardest things I’ve done at work was firing a customer. Oh, man, it took courage. We’d had a good relationship for many years, but then the company hired a new leader to manage the work with
A few hours after a meeting, I received a call from one of my colleagues. “Hey,” he said. “I was a jerk to you in that meeting. I was feeling insecure and protective. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. How are you feeling about it?” His courage to have a hard conversation and
This week, an email appeared in my inbox from one of my teammates at work. It was an unsolicited message sent to the entire company explaining the positive impact that another person on our team had on one of our clients. It was one of many emails I received that day. I read it quickly,
Dale Carnegie recently surveyed 500 business leaders from 12 countries about where their organizations are focusing their innovation efforts. Among the top six areas of focus across all respondents was innovation related to the organization’s “culture of learning.” In many ways, this doesn’t come as a surprise. Given the rapid pace of global change, organizations
Most of my days start with the question: What do I have to do today? I run a series of filters that includes deadlines, unfinished projects, obligations, schedule, correspondence and personal needs. These filters create a specific focus for the day: Get these things done. Recently, though, I began an experiment by considering what might
Last week our family fished in the mazes of mangroves in Southwest Florida with perhaps the best guide in the area. The operation is nothing fancy—just a small boat and a lot (30 years) of experience. He’s never had a website, doesn’t use social media and is only reachable by cell phone. If you get
One of my good friends from college is a successful entrepreneur. The company he founded is nearly doubling in size every year. He is highly ambitious, running a lean operation with offices in Boston, Denver and San Francisco. It’s intense, to say the least, and I wanted to learn more about how he manages it
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE