07 Sep A Confused Mind Says No 

Posted at 08:00h in Accountability, Communication, Corporate Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Teamwork

Clarity is a leadership advantage.  Your team doesn’t need more options. They need better ones.  The brain doesn’t respond well to extremes. No choices = shutdown. Too many = overload. Both lead to the same result: paralysis. Confusion. A hard no.  As leaders, we often think we’re being generous...

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06 Jul Curious Before Furious: How Smart Leaders Handle Emotion 

Posted at 08:00h in Accountability, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Employee Retention, Leadership, Teamwork

Ever told someone mid-meltdown to “calm down” or “chill out”? Or tried reasoning with someone clearly overwhelmed?  How’d that go? Probably not well.  When emotions run high, logic often leaves the room. That’s because intense emotional reactions are usually masks—covering up unmet needs, hidden fears, or deeper...

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29 Jul The Better You Are, The Better The Entire Team Will Be

Posted at 07:00h in Communication, Corporate Culture, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention

My favorite aunt once made a German chocolate cake… and left out the German chocolate. We have a lot in common when it comes to not liking chocolate, but why make a German chocolate cake when you’re getting rid of the German chocolate? The point...

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22 Jul Living “Above the Line” of Accountability: A Path to Transformational Leadership

Posted at 07:00h in Accountability, Employee Retention, Leadership

Are you living "above the line" or "below the line"? This question is central to understanding the concept of accountability in leadership. All of you have heard us discuss the famous “line of accountability,” but let's delve deeper into what it really means and how...

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19 Dec Interaction, Not Micromanagement.

Posted at 19:10h in Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention, Teamwork

CRANIUM POINT: Interaction, not micromanagement. Honor team input. Leverage other's experience. Gain loyalty by allowing a choice and a voice. Delegate. It can be a euphemism for bossing others around or shirking responsibility. It can also be a powerful tool for building trust and broadening...

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19 Dec Using Emotions, Not Ignoring Emotions

Posted at 18:26h in Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention, Teamwork

CRANIUM POINT: Using emotions, not ignoring emotions. You can capitalize on emotional intelligence by putting to practical use the power of the emotional brain. Work, relationships, bills...

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19 Dec Challenge, Not Threat

Posted at 18:24h in Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention, Teamwork

CRANIUM POINT: Challenge, not threat. Create a safe environment where a challenge is maximized and a threat is minimized - intentionally. We talk about this all of the time, but a threat is a threat. Your brain will respond to a poisonous snake in a similar way...

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19 Dec Novelty, Not Boring Routine

Posted at 18:21h in Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention, Teamwork

CRANIUM POINT: Novelty, not boring routine. Do the unexpected. Seek and reward innovation. Celebrate veering from conventional methods. Normally, our novelty posts are a little whacky to emphasize breaking from convention.  PowerPoint presentations are a good place to depart from this as they are often so bad....

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19 Dec Multiple Ways of Learning

Posted at 17:51h in Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention, Teamwork

CRANIUM POINT: Multiple ways of learning, not a narrow view. Value the multiple intelligences all individuals bring to the team. The question is not “How smart are you?” but rather “How are you smart?” Howard Gardner and others have proven our gifts, talents, and abilities far...

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19 Dec Action Not Overload

Posted at 17:11h in Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Leadership, Talent Retention, Teamwork

CRANIUM POINT: Action, not overload. Purposefully balance work and life. Cheaper, better, and faster isn’t always best for the human brain. Balancing work and life is something we all strive for. We all know that it's not that easy to do. Everyone has made those pronouncements: I'll...

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