Do We Really Know How Our Workers Interpret Us?

Would you talk to your work team differently if you knew that each point you deliver was instantly placed in one of two categories: Acceptance or disbelief?

According to research that Google has done in how people process advertising, this seems to be exactly what we face when trying to motivate our team.

I recently viewed a video of an interview with Dr. Vinton Cerf, Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist, where he discussed how people make the distinction between valuable information and advertising…

You Can’t Scare Workers Into Long Term High Performance

Woe is Bill. You see, he’s a manager who is stuck in the 1960s and who believes that you can get workers to perform at a high level if they’re fearful of losing their jobs.

While Bill has worked for several companies in his career as a hotel food and beverage manager, he still buys in to the 1960s employment scenario. He still thinks he can strongarm workers and scare them into performing up to expectations. Bill suffers from …

Is It “Kissing Up” to the Boss or Just Common Sense?

During a training late last year the topic turned to our precarious economic times and job worries, and a couple of “Generation We” (aka Gen Y or Millennial) workers disagreed with one of my positions, that we have to take an active role in influencing our employers so that we’re not an easy target for layoff if that becomes necessary.

I had suggested that now was a good time to make a bigger effort to forge a warmer relationship with the boss. In more colorful terms than I use here, one young man…

Confidence is Contagious — On the Court and in the Workplace

Nikki Caldwell must love a challenge.

She knows that confidence is contagious on the basketball court. Workplace leaders understand the need to harness it, too.

Caldwell took the job of coach of the UCLA women’s basketball team last April, a place where confidence…

Leadership Is For Everybody — You Can Do It

Given the title of this article, my question is simple: Do you believe it?

Like the Gatorade commercials ask: “Is it in you?”

It is. Leadership is for everybody. Anybody can lead, and should. It’s far easier than most people imagine.

“Generation We” and What it Means For the Workplace

Pete Carroll — Something Good Is Just About to Happen