By Harry Beckwith

This is an essential read for anyone who is in professional services.  Today it’s estimated that nearly 75 percent of Americans work in the service sector. Instead of producing tangibles–automobiles, clothes, and tools–more and more of us are in the business of providing intangibles–health care, entertainment, tourism, legal services, and so on.  As Harry Beckwith so eloquently and simply states – it is a mistake to market such intangible services like we have historically sold in a product driven economy.  Some of Beckwith’s points: (more…)

Today we say farwell to “The King of Pop.”  Whether you believe that Michael Jackson‘s death and life is receiving its due or feel that the coverage of this is overkill – Michael is teaching all of us two powerful and highly related lessons. First, as the founder of Motown, Berry Gordy, said during his speech at Michael’s memorial service “Michael was like two people.  Off stage he was shy and unassuming. Yet when he took stage and performed for his fans he was fully in charge, a true master.”  Few would discount Michael’s genius on stage and few would deny that his end came as a result of him losing the battle with his inner demons.  And both of these sides of Michael provide lessons to all of us trying to make a bigger impact in life. (more…)

Having the Right People on Board is Much Easier than Fixing the Wrong People You Have

How can you ensure you are getting “the right people on the bus” in your organization?  That might seem like an interesting question given our rising unemployment numbers that many say will peek above 10% in early 2010.   Yet, a key to such times is to ensure we are not only holding on to our best and brightest as well as to preparing to become more rigorous in the hiring process so that we are building a stronger organization once we begin hiring again.

A lot of ills were hidden during the last bull market including poor leadership.  During challenging times like we are facing today ineffective leadership becomes blatantly obvious. This is also true at all levels in your organization.  Ultimately, organizations are still far too sloppy in the hiring process and this sloppiness costs a lot through poor performance, missed opportunities for innovation and ultimately the cost of replacing a trained – although poor performing employee.  Great organizations maintain rigor when challenged to hire faster in good times as well as in how they thin the ranks during challenging times.

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As an executive, how much of your day is taken up by conversations?  Most executives I work with say that they spend at least 75% of their time engaged in conversations with clients, direct reports, peers, superiors and others.   When I follow up this conversation with another – what percentage of those interactions create real value? I usually get an astonishingly low percentage around the effectiveness of their conversations (some where between 10 and 30%).  In my work with senior executives we focus on increasing this percentage to a much higher level.  I start this process by helping the executive to integrate three fundamental laws for effective conversations into their mindset.

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January 20, 2009 was an historic day in the United States – the inauguration of Barack Obama.  In fact, we may look back at this day as the start of one of the greatest turning points in American history. One that extends well beyond the election of our first black president. Many certainly feel that the new president can lead us out of a crisis and into a new era of prosperity, the restoration of US influence and a new standard of life not solely based on wealth.  Of course that is merely a hypothesis right now.  Regardless of your view, I encourage all of us to pay close attention to the events that will unfold with this president and his administration over the next several years.   If such a transformation does unfold, the current generations of Americans will have an opportunity to witness a level of leadership that has been missing many years in our political theater. The rest of this entry focuses the transformational leadership qualities of the new president.  Please read on and share your comments.

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