As I was eating my chicken tenders recently at Chick-fil-A, I noticed a teenager walking around the restaurant stopping at every table to ask if there was anything he could do to make that guest’s stay more pleasant. Be it refill their drink, get another packet of honey mustard sauce, or whatever. How did this make me and every other guest feel? Cared for, special, like a valued customer. Then I wondered: how much better would [...]

As reported by Scott Mautz, author of Find the Fire and Make It Matter, 76 percent of bosses are considered toxic by their employees. How do you spot the worst offenders? A Harvard Study provides some tips, documenting two of the biggest red flags: 1. An excessively high level of self-centeredness. These people don’t care about others or how their behavior affects people. Personally, I don’t think most people don’t care about others. I think most people are [...]

I read a fascinating article by Bill Murphy, author of The Joy of Quitting, in which he analyzes Mary Barra’s interview process. Barra, CEO and chairman of General Motors, has three questions that she always asks during job interviews: How would your peers describe you in three adjectives? How would your supervisor describe you in three adjectives? How would people who’ve worked for you describe you in three adjectives? Barra says that ideally, you don’t want the adjectives to [...]

IQ and EQ are familiar concepts to most people, but there’s a new Q in town: AQ – otherwise known as Adaptability Quotient. According to scientists, it’s becoming the X-factor for career success and can be developed over time. Adaptability is defined as the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions. A footnote in the definition says: Adaptability is an advantage in the harshly competitive global economy. So how does one learn to be [...]

People ask me all the time, “What is the No. 1 thing managers can do to catapult employee engagement?”  My response?  “Recognition is the jet fuel behind employee engagement.” However, one of the biggest mistakes organizations make is they expect managers to do certain things to be a good leaders, but they don’t communicate those expectations to managers or give them the necessary training and tools. I believe that leaders are born, not made.  I think a person [...]

We’ve all been there. The dreaded meeting that lacks a diligent start and stop time, leader, agenda, organization, and outcomes. Layer on top of that the fact that you may be on Zoom for the tenth time today and it can be downright unbearable. It’s more than just a waste of time; it can be infuriating and disengaging. According to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, here are three rules to transform your meetings from time [...]