“I am the leader. Your decisions are not final until ratified by me. A decision made in my absence is not valid.” — Anonymous I sat next to a manager who was leading a failing project and [...]
A great deal has been written about the importance of lifelong learning. I remember in high school one of our instructors telling my class that ours would be the first generation for which [...]
I was attracted to the Agile movement through my interest not only in software but in conflict and collaboration. I’ve had many fascinating experiences and met lots of smart, eccentric, warm, [...]
I’m sitting in a hotel room at the close of a conference where, for the last three days, the phrases “my team” and “your team” have come up repeatedly from speakers who are talking to roomsful of [...]
A few weeks ago at the Intel Agile and Lean Development Conference in Hillsboro, Oregon I had a chance to talk to an audience about Pervasive Leadership. It’s always good to be able to do this as [...]
When I was a child, my family tended to move house every few years. My mother hated hot, dry weather and loved the rainy days common in a coastal climate. My father hated dark, dreary days and [...]
A few years ago I was asked a startling question. “Do you really enjoy going into environments where people aren’t getting along, things aren’t going well, turning things around and [...]
I am an itinerate problem solver. I walk into organizations in various roles to solve various kinds of problems. Not uncommonly when I walk around a new organization I notice things like “No [...]
My last post, Courage— Learned or Innate, seemed to generate some interesting conversation in several forums. I know the responses certainly caused me to do some more thinking. First, for those [...]
Over the last couple of years, courage has become more and more interesting to me. I have come to understand that people move to compassion more easily than they move to courage. I see a [...]