Building trust is difficult. Learning to trust the people you work with and the people on your team can be challenging. But breaking trust is can be a very quick process. In a coaching engagement, we worked with…
Building Trust
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Leaders Live Great Customer Service
I walked up to the cashier, who was talking with her co-worker working the other checkout line at a retail store. “How are you?” I asked. She ignored me and continued talking to the other cashier while running my items…
Are You Leading for the Future?
I recently asked a group of executives who they were grooming to lead their company in 20 years. They gave me blank stares as answers. “We are worried about next quarter. We are not even worried about next year.” Exactly. And that is the problem. Many executives are so busy worrying about the short-term that they…
Leaders Show Up and Care
My first meeting with my new Navy boss, the commanding officer of the base, went pretty much as expected until he said, “Oh, and if any of your people or their family members go to the hospital and are admitted, you need to let my office know.” I was a little confused. This guy was really busy. His assistant was constantly trying to keep him on a schedule. He arrived at the office at…
Real Estate Speaker Mary Kelly Addresses Leadership Issues at Joint NAR/CREA AE Institute; Writes Cover Story for Colorado REALTOR Magazine on Growing a Real Estate Business
Real Estate Speaker Mary Kelly Addresses Leadership Issues at Joint NAR/CREA AE Institute; Writes Cover Story for Colorado REALTOR Magazine on Growing a Real Estate Business…
The First 100 Days of New Leadership
“I don’t have time to spend with my employees,” the new vice president complained. “I am always running to a meeting or trying to catch up on phone calls or trying to make sure I am reading what I need to read or signing papers. My employees should know what they need to do.” This new executive was in the first 100 days on the job, and he was failing. Why? He was invisible to his people. He took over and they barely
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
In 2004 I was using Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire (about the Battle of Thermopylae between the Spartans and the Persians, also the subject of the movie 300) at the Naval Academy while teaching World Civilization classes. My midshipmen really enjoyed the book and on a whim, I penned a note to…
How to Build Effective Teams
The reason that we wind up cooperating with others as part of a team at work, the reason Paleolithic cave dwellers hunted as a team, and the reason people rowing in a scull move as one entity is that we are better together. Join forces. When we work toward a common goal, when we think and move and focus as one powerful…
Year-in-Review: Planning for a Great New Year
I wound up in Ushuaia, Argentina over Christmas. The trip was kind of accidental, and the story long and irrelevant, but I got to see penguins and learn about an indigenous people I had never heard of, the Yamana. There were 3,000 Yamana living relatively undiscovered on the tip of South America until…
“Mary was incredible. I loved her energy, and the content of the presentation was phenomenal. I intend to read her book on the same topic. She was engaging, entertaining, and interesting. By far, the best session of the event. It set a very high bar for everything that followed it.”
April Peterson