How should you motivate others?  With a cheerleader’s rallying cry?  Through a Knute Rockne “one for the Gipper” speech? Via fear, carrot dangling, or force of cutthroat competition? The surprise answer is, none of the above.  People must motivate themselves.  You, however, can create an environment where self-motivation is not only possible, but probable.  Your [...]

“COMMON SENSE” is common only because it’s the way most of us approach the process of decision making.  Practical thinking means coloring within the lines and solving problems the way everyone else solves problems.  So our solutions are probably the same old solutions everyone else comes up with – and probably are not solutions at [...]

Q:  How many executives does it take to change a light bulb? A:  None. We contract out for things like that. A:  One, but he needs two outside consultants to help. A:  One to spot the burned-out bulb and issue the requisition, a requisition typist, 12 clerks to file requisition copies, a mail clerk to [...]

Management consultant William N. Yeomans records these two principles in his book, 1000 Things You Never Learned in Business School (Penguin Books, New York). The Principle of Misdirected Expectations: The less time you spend with your people discussing what you expect them to accomplish, the more chance they will accomplish something. The Principle of Autocratic Inaction:  [...]

Many have learned that there are TWO RULES OF SUCCESS: 1) Do not tell everything you know 2)

An old joke goes something like, “It sure was considerate of the founding fathers to sign the Declaration of Independence on a holiday.”  And while that thought can still bring a smile, the fact is, it is not correct. Yes, July 4th is Independence Day, a legal holiday in the United States and its territories.  [...]