Simplicity + Clarity = Confidence

Creating confidence in your intended audience is as easy as delivering a message that is simple and clear.  

Not everyone has the ability to do this and sometimes it is done quite intentionally.  After all, if you agree to a plan, which is ambiguous, and things go awry, the organizers can chalk it up to you not knowing how to implement what they envisioned. 

I sat through a webinar recently that was intended to illicit buy-in from leaders for a previously published, proposed strategic direction.  The problem I had with the webinar and indeed with the proposed strategic direction was twofold. 

The Help Desk

To realize optimum benefit, at work or in life, look to what will benefit the person next to you.

In terms of work, this would mean really engaging in the company and the people who work there as opposed to the pay cheque and benefits package you receive.

What’s the problem with that if they are getting their work done, you ask? 

Answer this - why do we find it easier to engage with the company than the people? And, if you think that is not the case, think about this - How many times, on the news or in our own community, you've heard people say “he/she was so quiet, kept to themselves” after a tragedy?   

People are social creatures.  Social interaction isn’t just a ‘like to have’, it’s a ‘must have’! And being social creatures we also have the need not just to belong to a given group, but to feel we belong there.  We need to know we have value, beyond the valuation placed on us by our employer. 

Remembering 9/11 - Is it Enough?

Some events are etched in our minds for life!  I only wish they could all be happy ones. 

12 years ago, I was working in my home office when I received a call.

"Turn on your TV!" 

What I saw, was a tragedy; flames and smoke were billowing from one of the towers of the World Trade Center. It was a weekday and so the building would have been full of people at work.  Reports indicated that those on floors above the fires were trapped and many on lower floors had no knowledge of the extent of the damage above.  As I watched, to my horror, another plane hit the second tower of the WTC!

When you could think like a director on a board, why would you want to think like a CEO?

Much is written about thinking like a CEO or manager, but, I want to challenge you to think like the director on a board.  

There are three duties that each director on a board is tasked with when serving an organization; obedience, care and loyalty. But, beyond this and partly because of this, the board’s creativity, passion and forward thinking are what will make a difference in the strategic direction and mission of an organization.