Are You a Trustworthy Leader?

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Richard

In conducting some workplace interviews recently several members of this organization told me that they did not trust their managers or theleadership of the organization. Their concerns focused on their bosses: Lack of transparency Shifting priorities that could never be nailed down. Lack of commitment to the overall mission of the organization. Not helping them develop as professionals The result for these staff members were that they did not feel very engaged or committed to the company and were planning their strategy of how to get out. A recent survey by Interaction Associates reported on trust in organizations and showed that High Performing Organizations (HPOs) which had high scores in trust and leadership outperformed Low Performing Organizations (LPOs) in everything Read More

The Small Steps of Leadership

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Richard

Sixty of the finest community leaders in Pittsburgh met last week for the first time and began building friendships that will span the year and last a lifetime. The occasion was the annual Leadership Pittsburgh (LP) kick-off event at the Duquesne Club in downtown Pittsburgh. Leadership Pittsburgh is a leadership development program whose goal is to work with the finest professionals in our region to help them become tomorrow’s community leaders; those people who will help shape the future of this region. Participants come from large and small national and local corporations, state and local government, education, health care and a variety of non-profits. Together they will delve into various aspects of our community from commerce to education, healthcare to Read More

Conflict…Yikes!

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Richard

How would you handle this situation…. You and a business colleague agreed to work together for your mutual benefit. Your work and his work complimented each other and you both believed that you could help your clients and yourselves by cross referring some business. It is now 4 months after your agreement and you’ve referred three clients to this fellow that has resulted in $50,000 worth of business for them. But to date, your “colleague” has not referred a single person to you. You have a meeting this coming week and you want to have a further discussion about the arrangement…oh by the way…you are really pissed! This is the discussion several of my colleagues and I had at our Read More

Let’s hear it for Sensibility!

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Richard

In a recent blog post, I wrote about the “Rope to Nowhere” where I described how airlines attempt to reward their best customers by having them walk on the left side of a rope calling them “preferred customers”. While the practice of allowing them on board earlier is clearly an advantage, is it a good business practice. Yesterday I flew up to Boston for a business meeting and arranged my flight on Jet Blue. Now I usually enjoy JetBlue because of their in-flight video capability and 2 by 2 seating in comfortable leather seats. But yesterday’s flight pointed out a great business process that rewards customers and helps improve their operational efficiency. It was a throwback to an old era Read More