What is our purpose? Who do we serve? What drives us? As society shifts its view of businesses from engines of profit to engines for good, more and more organizations are soul-searching for a purpose. Over the past decade, the move toward stakeholder capitalism has changed how businesses see themselves

When Lisa Flanary, executive coach and strategic planning partner at CO2 Partners, began her work with a CO2 to client to redefine their  mission, vision, and values, company leadership couldn’t locate any documentation about the company purpose. No one, from entry-level employees to company leaders, could recall the company’s guiding

Today, workers expect more from their jobs than ever before—they want purpose, a sense of belonging, and personal fulfillment. In response, organizations have started contemplating questions like: Why do we exist? What are we doing? Are we a force for good? Yet, for all the buzz about purpose, business purpose alignment

Every company needs a corporate purpose. In fact, long-term business viability depends on it. Millennials and Generation Z, who together make up nearly half of the full-time workforce in the U.S., want the companies they work for and buy from to have a purpose greater than profit or shareholder value. 

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has been dramatized in plenty of science fiction movies. In these films, the robots gain consciousness, realize that humans are their enemy or simply unnecessary, and attempt to destroy them. While it doesn’t seem likely that robots will be attempting to eradicate the human race anytime

We are all a result of our habits. This is most apparent in the world of business. Our habits in the workplace dictate our productivity, employee relations, and ultimately our business success.   Everyone goes into the new year with a vision of improvements they want to make to their

  The Internet has completely changed the world, especially the world of business. Not only have traditional businesses become more streamlined and connected, but the web has also brought along a renaissance of non-traditional businesses. Entrepreneurship has skyrocketed over the last decade, as many are attempting to become the next

Whose life are you living? David Whyte asks the question, “Would you rather fail at your life than be successful at living out someone else’s life successfully?” If you find yourself living out the life your parents wanted you to live, it is time to ask yourself Whyte’s question. The

If you feel “not ______ enough,” seeking entry into a more elite circle isn’t necessarily going to make you feel full and complete. There’s a reason why Groucho Marx’s line, “I would never join a club that would have me as a member,” is so often recited. Without self-acceptance, any

Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief turning downward through its black water to the place we cannot breathe will never know the source from which we drink, the secret water, cold and clear, nor find in the darkness glimmering the small round

When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps his purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox; when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through

Great leaders start with strong self awareness. The more they know themselves, the better able they are at leading themselves and others. They show up consistently in terms of behavior and values, and, for this reason, others will be inclined to respect their leadership. What are your blind spots? What

Everyone in the organization need not be friends, and disagreements should, in fact, be encouraged (to improve decision-making), but the culture should be friendly and open. People should feel encouraged to lead and to help define the organization. When people feel encouraged to belong, they will contribute like they do.

“The Miracle is not to walk on water. The Miracle is to walk on the green Earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment, feeling truly alive.”  –Thich Nhat Hanh THE 5 MINUTE BUDDHIST (Printable PDF) Harold Ramis produced over 20 movies, most notably Animal House, Caddy Shack, Ghostbusters, and Groundhog Day. He

Finding Purpose in Life Our days are filled with raising families and building relationships, growing a business or pursuing a career, serving others and our communities, and trying to stay mentally and physically fit. How much time is there really to give consideration to the human purpose–the big Why? The

Finding Purpose in Life Our days are filled with raising families and building relationships, growing a business or pursuing a career, serving others and our communities, and trying to stay mentally and physically fit. How much time is there really to give consideration to the human purpose–the big Why? The

When an alcoholic reaches for a bottle at ten in the morning or finishes an entire bottle of vodka in one sitting, it’s pretty easy for everyone (including the alcoholic) to see the problem. It’s harder to see alcoholism starting. A drink after work to take the edge off seems

There’s a thread that you follow. It goes among  Things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get

Leadership Reality: Achievement vs. Intimacy As a student, you had your #2 pencil at the ready, pressing against the bubble almost ready to snap when the teacher said, “You can start.” You had another just-as-sharp pencil in your bag as a backup, next to your mini ruler (just the right

We become religious, then we turn from it, then we are in need and maybe we turn back. We turn to making money, then we turn to the moral life, then we think about money again. We meet wonderful people, but lose them in our busyness. We’re, as the saying

Each of us has a world view which is formed based on a certain set of beliefs, values and attitudes that you think is true based on the conditions, environment and experiences you have had since you were born.

When Death Comes by Mary Oliver   When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse   to buy me, and snaps his purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox;   when death comes like an iceberg

“I turned my head for a moment and it became my life” – David Whyte A Decision for Life In 1980, I attended Otumoetai College in Tauranga, New Zealand as an AFS student and stayed with a family. When they decided to host a student and when I agreed to live

The CDC today reported a national outbreak of Busyness Syndrome across the United States. Leaders in all walks of life are asked to stay home, stay attuned to familiar needs, play with the kids, and walk the dog. The underlying cause of the disease is said to be lack of

This morning I woke up and went for a run with my wife Chris. When I sat down and dusted off the piles of mail and musings on my unkempt desk (enjoying the beginnings of summer), I saw this poem that could only have found its way to my desk

Do you believe “Good things come in small packages” or “The bigger, the better”? Or does it fluctuate based upon context, stakes, and convenience?

  Sheryl Sandberg’s new book (Lean In) is out or should I say “in.” Her message to women is to be more ambitious, grab a seat at the table, raise your hand, and take credit for the work you’ve done. She believes that women have a tendency to lean backward

  Sheryl Sandberg’s new book (Lean In) is out or should I say “in.” Her message to women is to be more ambitious, grab a seat at the table, raise your hand, and take credit for the work you’ve done. She believes that women have a tendency to lean backward

Leaders may feel like they need fewer challenges, not more. In fact, what they need are new challenges, not the same ones, over and over. The focus of today’s post is on how to challenge yourself in new ways and, in the process, develop as a leader. Digital Photography School

Leaders may feel like they need fewer challenges, not more. In fact, what they need are new challenges, not the same ones, over and over. The focus of today’s post is on how to challenge yourself in new ways and, in the process, develop as a leader. Digital Photography School

Leaders may feel like they need fewer challenges, not more. In fact, what they need are new challenges, not the same ones, over and over. The focus of today’s post is on how to challenge yourself in new ways and, in the process, develop as a leader. Digital Photography School

The Entrepreneurial Guide to Success Joe Powers is the owner of the Canadian Honker, an unassuming “comfort food” restaurant in Rochester, MN. The restaurant is located directly across the street from St. Marys Hospital, part of the world famous Mayo Clinic. Heads of state, Fortune 100 executives, and media personalities

The Entrepreneurial Guide to Success Joe Powers is the owner of the Canadian Honker, an unassuming “comfort food” restaurant in Rochester, MN. The restaurant is located directly across the street from St. Marys Hospital, part of the world famous Mayo Clinic. Heads of state, Fortune 100 executives, and media personalities

In Driven, two eminent Harvard professors, Paul R. Lawrence and Nitin Nohria, identify four core human drives

To be an exceptional leader or follower you must be self-aware and to be self-aware it is essential to understand what are your needs? Discover your needs..

To be an exceptional leader or follower you must be self-aware and to be self-aware it is essential to understand what are your needs? Discover your needs..

My dear friend Steve Singer was shot and murdered this week in Scottsdale, Arizona by a gunshot. Steve Singer was not one who sought fame, and yet his and his attorney’s deaths were the top stories this week in Arizona and on national news because of the timing of his death. Their deaths are newsworthy

My dear friend Steve Singer was shot and murdered this week in Scottsdale, Arizona by a gunshot. Steve Singer was not one who sought fame, and yet his and his attorney’s deaths were the top stories this week in Arizona and on national news because of the timing of his death. Their deaths are newsworthy

As a leader, do you lead a purposeful life? What do you believe is your highest purpose? And what habits or qualities (i.e. virtues) allow you to succeed?

“The final mystery is oneself” — Oscar Wilde Would you spend the rest of your life following the notions of a 12-year-old child? Probably not. Why is it then that people feel attached to the life trajectory and vision they formed at that age? When we’re young and imagining our

Principle-driven leaders want to know themselves well, and yet they often get their principles from others.

The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your

I was betrayed. We have all been betrayed by friends, colleagues, co-workers, bosses, partners, spouses and our own contract with life.

Leadership is seeing how one small change like using an overhand knot verses and underhand knot to tie your shoe can have massive improvement in performance. Are you peeling back the onion and exploring how small changes can be substantial.

Becoming a Leader:  Challenge #1–Humility in your success Humility:  a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance; not believing that you are superior to somebody else. In the famous words of Charles Schwab:  “I am hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise.”  Schwab counted as his greatest

Becoming a Leader:  Challenge #1–Humility in your success Humility:  a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance; not believing that you are superior to somebody else. In the famous words of Charles Schwab:  “I am hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise.”  Schwab counted as his greatest

Becoming a Leader Being an achiever requires intelligence, knowledge, and skill. Becoming a leader requires these elements, too, but leaders must also have Emotional Intelligence (sometimes referred to as EQ, for Emotional Quotient, or EI). EQ is what leaders use to motivate others and help them work together toward a

“The spirit of evil is negation of the life force by fear. Only boldness can deliver us from fear, and if the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is violated.”

Employee Engagement + Leadership = Business Results Employee Engagement, Leadership, and Business Results are highly correlated–according to Gallup research done by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, authors of First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. In our last post on this topic (you can read it

10 powerful tools that will improve how you Ask Questions that will improve communication both personally and professionally. Gary Cohen & Marilee Adams deliver Questioning Skills.

Career Path is a Journey of Unity You may be one of those people who was taught to put your head down and just work hard on your career path. Your parent, mentor, teacher only knew one way–the hard way.  You work hard and then, maybe, once the work is

Discover Your Perfect Career After meeting hundreds of executives over the years and helping them on their career paths to a new position or a new career, I have assembled a set of tools and resources that may help you on your path. Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey” is a

This question is at the heart of Jacqueline Novogratz’s inspirational book, The Blue Sweater. Her fascinating story of travel, work, and adventure is always driven by the goal of empowering people to lift themselves out of poverty. Her story weaves together many people and places from around the world, examining

This question is at the heart of Jacqueline Novogratz’s inspirational book, The Blue Sweater. Her fascinating story of travel, work, and adventure is always driven by the goal of empowering people to lift themselves out of poverty. Her story weaves together many people and places from around the world, examining

You can stumble on your next career or be deliberate about choosing one. This post explores how you can elevate your game and learn what career insights you may be withholding from friends and loved ones?

Today I was catching up with a dear friend, Bernie Sucher,  who lives in Russia. He shared with me an amazing program modeled after Teach for America. It is called Venture for America. It was founded by Andrew Yang who is the current president of the organization. Take a look

This is a terrific video describing leadership by XPLANE made in collaboration with Harvard Business School. Nitin Nohria and Amanda Pepper of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Initiative collaborated with XPLANE to create this video in order to generate a discussion of the value and importance of leadership to address some

“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”–Socrates Unlike a computer that makes no meaning or connections between the information it retains, your brain relies upon connections. It stores related sensory data together, which enables you to recognize patterns and make predictions. For example, you may not

Aristotle says that the eudaemon life is one of “virtuous activity in accordance with reason” [1097b22–1098a20] We must: 1) Know our purpose. 2) Know how to act on that purpose. 3) Act on that knowledge towards our purpose.

By Jonathan Bennett In this paper I shall present not just the conscience of Huckleberry Finn but two others as well. One of them is the conscience of Heinrich Himmler. He became a Nazi in 1923; he served drably and quietly, but well, and was rewarded with increasing responsibility and power. At the

by Leo Tolstoy I An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of

by Ursula K. Le Guin With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea. The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between

David Whyte asks the question, would you rather fail at your life or succeed at someone else’s? So, whose path are you on? Our lives have porous boundaries. Often, it’s unclear if what we do and value are chosen, suggested, or implanted. Maybe your dad, mom, sibling, or friend played

The Left-Siders by Simon Sinek (blog) The world is a bell curve. Class room test scores, employee performance in a company or how many people really, really like you. No matter the population you’re studying, they always fit neatly across the standard deviations of the famous bell curve. The most

What if you pursued your core desire? The thing you feel you were born to do? Fear of failure keeps many of us from pursuing our core desires. But it shouldn’t. People fail all the time. Steve Jobs did, as did just about every other significant inventor. They learned from

This video deserves to be thought about as it relates to sharing a vision. Watch the video and see if you are clear on what the vision is and how it is communicated. Is your vision for yourself or your organization this strong? What would you need to do to

What should we be asking ourselves? The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering. Nine years ago, I wrote a poem called “Sometimes” in which I talked about the “questions that can make or

Dave Balter wrote for Inc. Magazine about the importance of humility for business leaders. The response to the article was so strong he created this site to collect people’s personal stories about ego and humility in the workplace. It has many interesting stories, including some from Guy Kawaski and Seth

On a recent trip to Italy, I visited the Coliseum, the Parthenon, and the statues collected by the Medici family. While there’s plenty of important and successful businesses and entrepreneurs in Italy, most of us, when we speak of Italy’s greatness, speak in the past tense. And Italy spends a

My friend Paul Batz wrote this blog post about a dear friend of ours and all of it is true. Lynn Casey, CEO of Padilla Speer Beardsley is cringing as she reads this. She’s my all time favorite boss, and she HATES the word “boss.” She’s been in the news

We’re often acutely aware of the things that we lack: money, courage, curiosity, love, talent, etc. We’re less aware of when enough is, in fact, enough—and the consequences of having too much. Many of us are totally oblivious to our Golden Mean. How many cars do you need to collect,

A perfectionist rejects: failure, painful emotions, success, and reality. According to Tal Ben-Shahar in his new book The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life, “perfectionists reject everything that deviates from their flawless, faultless ideal vision and as a result suffer whenever

Gov. Chris Christie says he used a state police helicopter for two personal trips, including to fly to his son’s baseball game. He gave the “good father” defense, citing “the realities of life” (i.e., the competing demands of parenthood and a job serving his constituents 80 hours a week). Not

In a new documentary called The Interrupters. Live at Aspen Ideas Festivals interviews one of the main Interrupters. Eddie describes the work as dangerous and rewarding even though he fails more than he succeeds. This is necessary work and has become the character of those neighborhoods. All systems need to

NPR Talk of the Nation with Neal Konan live from Aspen Institute. Ken Rudin – Political Junkie. States that Three governors have been convicted and sent to prison. And soon to be four! What does this speak to regarding the change in ethics in leadership. The state that is second

Friendship provides so much joy, light, and meaning in life. You may be at an event having an ordinary time when your friend walks through the threshold, and your eyes meet, triggering the mirror neurons to fire. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. You can’t explain it and you don’t need to. Meaning was

You can call back those 10 people you have been procrastinating calling. You could finish writing the report you were going to finish last week. You could have that uncomfortable conversation with that employee, vendor, or client that you have been putting off. You could have that meeting that you

After getting a review copy of The New York Times Bestselling book, Change Anything, by Joseph Grenny and his partners (see my earlier post), I decided to put the book to the test. The book lays out six vital behaviors that will support the change you wish to make. The

On Friday, my wife woke the girls and me up at 4:30 am! This is not an unusual time for her to awake, but it is about two hours early for the rest of the family. She flipped on the TV in our master bedroom and made us tea and crumpets. She

Enough is enough—if you’re a person for whom there’s never enough. What if you stopped looking at the best qualities of everyone you meet and making a composite ideal person that you compare yourself to? What if you decided you were just the person you are with no improvement? How

Enough is enough—if you’re a person for whom there’s never enough. What if you stopped looking at the best qualities of everyone you meet and making a composite ideal person that you compare yourself to? What if you decided you were just the person you are with no improvement? How

Are the things in your day in alignment with your purpose?

KISS is a memorable acronym for “Keep It Simple, Stupid,” coined by Kelly Johnson, who worked as an engineer for Lockheed Skunkworks. KiSS with a lowercase “i” is a different acronym, but it’s simple and memorable, too.

KISS is a memorable acronym for “Keep It Simple, Stupid,” coined by Kelly Johnson, who worked as an engineer for Lockheed Skunkworks. KiSS with a lowercase “i” is a different acronym, but it’s simple and memorable, too.

KISS is a memorable acronym for “Keep It Simple, Stupid,” coined by Kelly Johnson, who worked as an engineer for Lockheed Skunkworks. KiSS with a lowercase “i” is a different acronym, but it’s simple and memorable, too.

Traction is written for a very specific target market. It’s for entrepreneurial business owners and leadership teams of small to midsize companies who want help and are open-minded, frustrated, willing to be vulnerable, open, real, and authentic. As it pertains to that market, there really isn’t a book written for

Nitin Nohria and Amanda Pepper of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Initiative collaborated with XPLANE to create this video in order to generate a discussion of the value and importance of leadership to address some of societys most pressing problems. “It is my desire to inspire people of all ages and

Some great people leave behind a legacy of a company, a building, a monument, Sid’s legacy is the memes he leaves behind. His thinking that will be past on and shared by those he interacted with either in his writing or in person and their passing it forward. Today at

Some great people leave behind a legacy of a company, a building, a monument, Sid’s legacy is the memes he leaves behind. His thinking that will be past on and shared by those he interacted with either in his writing or in person and their passing it forward. Today at

All prepsters will need one of these inside their bedroom night stand. It is shot in classic Ivy League style. Shot by Japanese photographer Teruyoshi Hayashid in 1965.

Video of a group of Americans that have stretch themselves for the benefit of others.

It is a struggle for leaders to think differently finding a balance between performance and people. This posts gives a small insight into this much greater issue.

It is a struggle for leaders to think differently finding a balance between performance and people. This posts gives a small insight into this much greater issue.

Are you considering the impact of your organization in the world? Do you need to? What are your views, policies, and consideration beyond market optimization?

When you are in the family business make sure you check the fine printing on the crest. It may not be what you thought you signed up for…

When you are in the family business make sure you check the fine printing on the crest. It may not be what you thought you signed up for…

Video about the darker side of a sunny disposition. Are you creating a blind spot by always imaging the best?

How are you helping others see a different perspective on your team?

Carmine Gallo provides his seven secrets of inspiring leadership.