The Culture+ Blog
Insights to help you create a compelling and connected culture
High-performance teams come from high-performance cultures
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You are the differentiator in the market
I drive to Seattle four times a year to see a mostly naked woman holding a tiger cub while clinging to a rope ladder that's attached to a helicopter. Relax, it's art. A massive piece of art that is hanging on the ceiling of my dentist's office. When the hygienist chair reclines, the painting is all you can see attached to the ceiling. And it's magnificent. That piece of art is why I continue to make the 1 hour drive downtown even though I no longer work downtown. But it's not really that piece...
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Future Leaders help their superstars plan their professional development
Do you know where you are going? I sometimes ask people the tired question about where they see themselves in five years. You would be surprised at what I hear back. Many haven't really thought about it. Many more have only a vague sense of what they want their future...
Focus on the people on your bus
I just finished reading Turning the Flywheel by Jim Collins (highly recommend). This is a short book that builds on the flywheel concept he first illustrated in his earlier book, Good to Great (also highly recommend). This sentence from his new book struck a chord...
Future Leaders! Help grow your team members
A ping pong table? Great! Free lunch? Sounds good! Flexible work arrangements? Wow! I haven't found anyone who doesn't love perks (me included). But perks have a shelf life. And, their shelf life is much shorter than you think it is. The reason? We turn perks into...
Before the end of today
Might I humbly suggest that before the end of today: 1. Provide one bit of feedback to a member of your team. Feedback can be a "thank you," a "good job," or a suggestion for improvement. Hint: the more specific, the better. 2. Close your email completely for one hour...
Please, stop being an efficient leader
If I could implore you to do one thing? Please stop being efficient with your leadership. I hopped a flight down to Arizona last week. At the start of the flight, the flight attendants gave the mandatory pre-flight passenger briefing. Because of my aisle seat and...
How will you wield the power?
I could tell you what to do, or I could ask you what needs to be done next. I could tell you what my opinion is right away, or I could hold back and hear what you have to say first. I could remain silent when I notice that you seem a bit down, or I could check in and...
Reflecting on leadership and the ultimate goal
You made it to another Friday. Perfect time for a moment of reflection before you head out the door for the weekend. Here's the prompt: If you asked them, what would your customers say about your team? Every team has at least one customer. Maybe it's an internal...
The intersection of your feelings and the data
When you are flight training, one of the training exercises is recovering from unusual attitudes. This means getting the airplane back to wings level from a spiraling descent, or a turning power off ascent, or some other combination of unusual circumstances the...
What result do you get paid to create?
Here is my question for you: What exactly are you getting paid to do? For the answer, omit your job title, omit your constellation of job tasks, omit your team's larger mission. What exactly are you getting paid to do? Meaning, above all else, what result are you...
Future leaders help accommodate our need to self-actualize
If you are familiar with Dr. Abraham Maslow, then it's likely because of his work in human motivation. The "hierarchy" starts, as it should, with the physiological. Air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink. We naturally satisfy that stuff first. From there we work...
Leaders make first impressions
Option 1 - you start at a new company. On the first day you fill out a ream of papers for HR. The computer in your unadorned cubicle is not hooked up yet, and your login credentials are coming "later today." Your coworkers appear to be super busy and a few people say...
Future leaders communicate at the right altitude
Iron-clad communication tip! Ready? Here it is: As the communicator, converse at the same altitude as your audience. Let me break this down a bit. People naturally settle on a certain altitude when they are communicating. Whether this be at work or in life outside of...