Leadership, teamwork, democratic workplace
Teamwork rituals from the basketball team to the work team which are discussed below: Sportsmanship, win or lose. Free throws/penalty shots. Subbing out. Circling up. Helping hands, Communication-Talking and Information hoarding. I understand there are readers whose least favorite class was PE (gym) and who cringe at any linking of sports to the workplace. Bear…
A few years back, I made up a term for a kind of management system or style: cage free. It was a re-purposing of a term found on an egg carton. As you know nowadays there’s more than one way, including “gluten-free”, to market eggs. (There’s no gluten** in eggs.) And, claiming eggs are organic suggests something…
How a primal craft moved one leader from a world of invoices, inventories, and interruptions to a state in which simple satisfaction came through the act of shaping raw dough into a loaf of bread. I make my own bread, something I’ve been doing for many years. My sourdough “starter” comes from Oklahoma, the gift…
“NOW it happens that in America a man who goes up hanging to a Balloon is a Professor. One day a Professor, preparing to make a Grand Ascension, was sorely pestered by Spectators of the Yellow-Hammer Variety, who fell over the Stay-Ropes or crowded up close to the Balloon to ask Fool Questions. They wanted to…
Many years ago I had a secretary. She was a graduate of NYCs Katherine Gibbs School which trained executive assistants. A Gibbs graduate back then was guaranteed a decent job. At the time, most executives had at least one secretary. I hired her in 3 minutes. Once she started, my office and I were never…
One of my most frequently read old posts, “The Un-DMV” deserves a prominent spot on my WordPress platform. And, in a time of “pulse checks” for government employees – with many identified flat-liners – it is good to celebrate when an agency understands its purpose and carries out its mission with urgency and exceptional customer…
The resolution of Tom T. Hall’s mournful song about a hospitalized pig farmer set me to thinking about work, the dignity of work, and perspectives on work*. The song ends: “Well, the doctors say they do not know what saved the man from death But in a few days he put on his overalls and he…
Some years ago, I gave a talk to a large group of department heads about Leading from the Middle. It went fairly well, but one participant, seated as far from me as possible, never let up scowling. Was it me, something I said, or something she ate? I suspect it was my topic. Some managers are…