Sooner or later, each of us is going to say or communicate something that is hurtful, insensitive, or just plain stupid. Over the course of a business lifetime, this will occur on more than just a few occasions. To be clear, I’m not talking about the grossly out-of-bounds acts and words that you just don’t say or do in public, at work or, for that matter, even in private. I’m
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Tag: Speaking Up
Imagine . . . .
Imagine someone you care about extending her hand toward you. In her hand she holds a small, robin’s egg blue box wrapped with a white ribbon. “Here,” she says, “it’s for you.”
What feelings would that beautiful little blue box evoke? Anticipation? Excitement? Gratitude? Curiosity?
For generations, the robin’s egg blue Tiffany box has captivated imaginations and stirred hearts. It is a cultural icon, synonymous …
Continue ReadingOn a visit last month to the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell, I stood in the horse barn watching a teenage girl attempt to pull her mare into a stall.
With sweat forming across her forehead and her feet sliding across the straw-covered boards of the barn, she pulled hard on the lead. The mare wouldn’t budge. The more she strained, the more resistant her horse became. Standing six feet
Consider two entirely different organizations: one is our largest automotive producer; the other, a massive federal agency. What General Motors and the Veterans Administration have in common now are acts of malfeasance that not only have created outrage, but tainted their reputations and the public’s trust.
The facts are shocking. At GM and the VA, people ignored their responsibilities to fix known problems resulting in serious harm and fatalities to …
Continue ReadingFrom what we have learned from their lawyers’ recently released report, executives and other leaders at General Motors apparently perfected their own non-verbal communication styles with an effectiveness which would have made Don Corleone proud. As candidly confirmed by CEO Mary Barra, leaders developed a cultural practice of tacitly agreeing not to pursue business problems with a “nod” while declaiming responsibility with an arms folded “salute.” In the case …
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