Musings at Altitude

It’s almost a given. As a company gets larger, it loses its innocence. Youth brings a fresh naivete that allows for questions, permits partnering, admits not knowing things, and seeks mentoring and personal and professional development. Age brings a stale sense of unwarranted confidence, a desire to always be the lead or do things on […]

Are you an architect, devising and designing the future? Are you a builder, constructing and implementing the design? Are you an occupant, living in someone else’s designed and constructed dream? Or are you a designer, builder and occupant of your own dream? There is something very special about being all 3 – the architect, builder, and then […]

We had a big spring storm come through yesterday, dumping about 12 inches of very wet snow across the area.  It was still in 30’s today when I finally decided to go out and start shoveling.  It was more like pushing icy water rather than actually shoveling.  As I struggled through our very big driveway […]

Friend:  “How’s it going?” Me:  “Very good.” Friend:  “Really?” Me:  “Yeah…really.” Friend:  “I didn’t expect that answer.” Me:  “Really?” Friend:  “Yeah…really.” When I think about a dialogue like this, I wonder what I say that causes my friends to expect something other than “very good”. Business can certainly beat you down. In fact, in many […]

I attended a two day conference this week, and for the first time in a long time, I was pleased with the content, the speakers and panelists, the questions, the answers, and most importantly, the audience.  That almost never happens.  In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was this satisfied. That got me […]

What would we do if everything had to be done in 3 minutes or less? Any issue addressed at a staff meeting was limited to 3 minutes. Any pitch made as to why someone should want your product or service was limited to 3 minutes. Any presentation that led to a decision was limited to […]

Is it just me or is business a lot like running a crime lab on the CSI series? It seems to me that enormous amounts of data come in amidst a tidal wave of information.  When the wave clears, business leaders need to follow the trail of evidence, filter out the fog on the business […]

On the plane ride home today, I pulled out a spreadsheet that I created a year ago to try and objectively evaluate leaders.  I canvassed several of my very wise friends and advisors, and we categorized the characteristics of leaders that we felt were critical to organizational success. We divided the assessment into 4 categories: (1) Leadership […]

At the end of a summer intern program several years ago, I asked one of our interns to give us some honest feedback on our organization.  She said, “You guys need to learn to communicate.  Communications is active.  It’s more than just sending messages.  There needs to be a dialogue, and it has to be […]

I was taken aside and counseled a while ago by a consultant helping us with change management.  She said, “You need to learn to listen first, ask questions second, and then respond with whatever wisdom you may have.”  I was shocked first, and then stunned.  I thought I was a listener, and she was bluntly […]