Don’t throw out the lightbulb just because it showed you an uncomfortable truth
Don’t throw away the light bulb because it showed you an uncomfortable truth. Transparency doesn’t build trust. Transparency creates awareness; actions build trust.
Courage
Maybe you’re just human. We’re all just human.
Those emotions you feel? They may not be unusual. You’re just human, after all. That should be a relief. Here’s why.
Accepting a Very Prestigious Award is hard
My inner critic and my inner cynic keep me from believing I deserve the awards and accolades I get. But there’s really only one opinion that matters.
Avoid identity creep when making decisions by staying connected to your “why”
Identity creep happens in life’s gray areas, in the little conflicts when you have to choose between what’s right and what’s easy. Here are four guiding tips.
Racing to mediocrity: how to rationalize minus-one hiring
When a manager rationalizes hiring the lesser candidate, that’s minus-one hiring. It leads to institutionalized reliable mediocrity.
You’ve taken the courageous first steps to fulfilling (or killing) a dream… now what? How to survive the J Curve.
Taking the courageous steps to pursue a new dream, you will face and have to survive the J Curve in order to turn your dream into reality.
Loyalty to yourself isn’t as simple as it sounds
Are you most loyal to your past self, to your future self, or to a fictitious self created by other people? The answer should almost always be, “It depends.”
Embracing the middle manager’s role as ignorant speed bump
The middle manager’s role is to manage both up and down the org chart. This means questioning authority and speaking truth to power, as well as managing staff.
Crisis decisions lead to unintended consequences
In a crisis, avoid reactionary decisions as much as possible, to reduce unintended consequences. The long term damage may be far worse than pausing a moment.
The death of a future story you’ve been telling yourself
We all tell ourselves stories about our future. Some are our own, and some are forced upon us. It’s always hard to go through the death of a future story.