Are You Really Available?

Are you available? It’s so easy to answer yes to this question. Our intention is to be available but many times we send signals that say something very different.

“My door is always open.”

An open door doesn’t represent an open mind. Keeping your office door open is nice, but it’s meaningless if engaging in conversation with you is difficult. It’s not the door that stops people from coming to you, it’s the closed mind, the I know everything mind, the non-listening mind or the I’m too busy mind. (more…)

Leaders must continually keep their eyes on the horizon and drive their business toward the future while still leading in the present. It’s a difficult balance, planning for tomorrow while still appreciating today.

However, if we constantly live in the future, we miss what’s going on now, and the “now” is what we were dreaming about in the past. It’s finally here, but you’re not. (more…)

It’s Thursday Quote Day again! Will you live this one out?

“Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.” – Colin Powell

I love this quote because it alludes to one of the most important actions of a leader – making sacrifices to serve the team! So what are the “give ups” we should expect to make as a leader so we can “give back” to our team? (more…)

I frequently play golf with my executive assistant, Diane Brown. We make a great team at the office, and our opposing talents complement each other on the golf course, too.  She plays consistently, and I play risky. She hits it down the middle while I take short cuts through the trees. I think my strategy is more exciting, but after 18 holes her score is more exciting!

The other morning I was giving her some “trash talk” about how I was going to beat her in our upcoming game. I kept on and on, thinking I was getting inside her head.  Finally, after hearing all she wanted to hear, she calmly said, “You can’t intimidate consistency.”

BAM! That stopped me in my trash talking tracks. She was right! You can’t intimidate consistency. I couldn’t wait to blog about her powerful statement. (more…)