Leadership

For more than two decades, I led a two-day seminar for the Center for Management Research in Cambridge, MA.  The session was always a popular one, particularly for executives and senior leaders…

Many companies waste a lot of time and money trying to find and hire smart, talented people. The knowledge and technology exists today to create a high performing workplace with the people you have…

Recent events in mining, oil production, and even drug manufacturing uncover costly and more importantly deadly mistakes. Understanding the laws of behavior and applying them to environments where…

Apparently the executives at Spirit Airlines are not familiar with the research of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. They demonstrated years ago that they way you frame choices impacts people’s…

The sandwich method of correcting performance is probably the most common way that managers are taught to deal with poor performance.  It is called the sandwich method because criticism is…

Q: I was recently promoted to a supervisory position at a federal agency where it is against the Collective Bargaining Agreement to discuss "performance standards" or "numbers" with employees.…

Watching the new season of NBC's reality show Celebrity Apprentice got me thinking "What does The Donald know about leadership?" Read my latest Washington Post column on the subject.

The meanest, most contemptible kind of praise is that which first speaks well of a man and then qualifies it with a "But," --Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

When I read The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande three things occurred to me.  The first was a joke someone sent me in e-mail last week. “ A man is recovering…

Last week at the insistence of Tyler, our Assessments & Surveys Guru, I watched an episode of the TV series, LOST, and boy was I lost!  I quickly concluded this is not the kind of…

Last week Neil Borofsky, Special Inspector General of the Troubled Relief Asset Program, said   that a number of the bail-out’s key goals “have simply not been met.” The question I have is…

After an intense Super Bowl game does not seem like a prime spot in the TV schedule to premiere a new show, but according to ratings, Undercover Boss proved to be one of the most watched post-…

I invite you to read my blog in the Guest Insights section of the Washington Post online. Related Posts: OOPS! The Biggest Mistakes Made By TV's Top Bosses

With 1:55 left in the game and with the Minnesota Vikings leading the Dallas Cowboys 27 to 3, the Cowboys had no real chance of winning. Surprisingly to many, Viking’s quarterback Brett Favre…

As one who studies behavior for a living, I couldn’t help analyzing last week’s “horse-trading” in the Senate around the health care reform bill.  Do the leaders in Congress ever concern…

My opinion of Falcon’s head coach, Mike Smith, dropped several notches week before last because of his action in the Babineaux case.  For those who don’t follow the Falcons NFL football team,…

With all the buzz surrounding the new movie “Up in the Air” I’ve put it on my must see movie list for the Holidays. I’m particularly interested because in today’s business environment, these…

 When I was in the Army there was a saying about budgets, “Ask for three, expect two and get one.” I was reminded of this when watching President Obama’s speech at West Point last night. When…