Jim leads an R&D team at a med tech firm. Medical products lay scattered across his desk. Like a child proudly showing his artwork, he provides a tour of each product in front of him. But this isn’t the tour he’s most excited about. “Can I give you a tour of our team?” We walk
It was such a surprising thing to hear. The husband of a well-known musician told me that his famous wife frequently feels inadequate. How could she, with so much talent, success and popularity, ever question herself? Maybe it shouldn’t surprise me, given that musicians constantly put themselves out there. Yes, they get affirmation, but they
I once worked for a boss who looked past me when I spoke and rarely acknowledged my comments. To me, that’s a sure sign someone’s not listening. His behavior led me to conclude that he was inconsiderate and self-important. As a result, I believed he was someone who was not to be trusted. So I
When I started my day last Sunday, I exhaled and thought to myself, “Today I will disconnect. Today I will rest. Today…I will let go of the measures and expectations of my work and remember who I am.” This is what I do on Sunday mornings. Do you give yourself that type of time and
We all have principles that we live our lives by, and it can be really frustrating when others don’t follow them, too. Here’s one of my guiding principles that it seems like few people practice: getting back to people with a clear answer after they’ve asked or offered you something. To me, it’s about showing
Years ago, a colleague of mine, Harold Knutson, was faced with a difficult decision: support the company plan to outsource, or take a stand for his belief that it was a bad idea at that point in time. As one of a handful of vice presidents, he could have put his head down and gone
In last week’s blog, Matt described what he’s learning from “Yoda,” the marriage counselor we recently started seeing. Matt received many comments, both online and in person, thanking him for his willingness to create a space where there is permission for the hard and the messy things in life. He and I had a follow-up
You don’t want to fall short of expectations. And you probably have to rely on other people to help you deliver on your expectations. If those people are different from you, they likely interpret standards and expectations differently. The bottom line: excellence requires consistent accountability for results, and fostering consistent accountability is challenging. A friend
A senior executive recently admitted to my brother-in-law that his organization was more focused on doing tasks than being customer-focused. My brother-in-law is a partner at a global management consulting firm, so he naturally set out to answer this question: How do organizations remain customer-focused amidst the continuous pressures on employees to get their work
A few weeks after giving this interview, Caroline Kennedy ended her 2008 campaign for U.S. Senate. Her performance was disparaged as not befitting the level of professionalism and poise required in leadership. The culprit? Filler words. In fact, many professional speech patterns (sometimes my own included) are littered with filler words. My dad was a
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