I hate riding exercise bikes. In fact, I consider all machine-based cardio to be evil. It's boring, even with a TV in place, to be working so hard to get nowhere. No one associates the word "engaging" with cardio equipment. Gallup's engagement data is often quoted for it's mind-numbing finding...
How to Avoid The Number One Mistake in Corporate Communication
Calgary is famous for its annual Stampede celebration, which features a fantastic fireworks show every evening for a week, visible across the city. It's nice to watch from your home, but something incredibly different to experience sitting up close at the Stampede grounds as fireworks explode above your head in an...
From Survive to Thrive: How to Align People on Success
When companies want to grow, differentiate, or compete effectively, they don't take baby steps. They transform. If your involved in a transformation initiatives, your success will be directly correlated to how well you engage people. Without having everyone pulling in the same direction, your chances of reaching your goals are...
Join the Lamborghini Club: Career Trajectory is Governed by the Company You Keep
"Before you start, let me remind you that you are expected to obey the rules of the road.' And with that final word from the organizer of Royal Rally - a travelling scavenger hunt that would cover 750km in a single day - we were off. As fifty supercars,...
The Secret Skill that Separates Leaders From Managers
Dawn has some fantastic ideas. She is the regional GM for an IT services company, having fast-tracked from a tech role in just four years. She figures she can add another $2M to the company's bottom line if they add two service options that clients keep asking for. Sounds like...
Simon Sinek says Millennials are Victims: 7 Secrets to Parent your Staff to Success
Have you noticed that the work ethic is woefully absent in many people? Kids have learned that success is measured in likes, comments and emojis rather than discipline and hard work. I caught a snippet of a Simon Sinek talk explaining why Millenials are perceived as lazy, unfocused, and go to work feeling...
Google, Amazon & Microsoft Screwed Up on Values. 4 Steps to Avoid Mutiny
When over 3000 Google employees petitioned the company to ditch a contract with the Pentagon, the power structure of our organizations changed forever. In a tight labor market employees have choice about who and what causes they will work for. Organizations are under immense social pressure: Google: We will not...
How to Micromanage so Your Team Will Love You
When I worked for one of Canada's big banks, we had an executive that insisted on final signoff for all training. That was fine, but she regularly wordsmithed the work sending us back several stages in our development effort. The feedback was not considered 'value add' and instead indicated a...
Accelerating with a Backward Glance
"Our weakest area as a team? Taking time to reflect. We never look back." It's a typical sentiment that moving fast means always moving forward. Standing still makes you a target. Those of you who have been following the Skipper Report for years might have noticed things have been quiet...
What it means to be a Thoughtfully Ruthless® Leader
While preparing for an executive review at The Salvation Army, we took a brief pause and the CIO said, “Jeff, I thought you’d want to know that I heard one of my managers tell his team that he was going to exit a call because he wasn’t needed. They could...
