In the US, there was a pivotal moment in the COVID-19 pandemic story where everything changed. It was a Wednesday in March. March 11 to be exact. The Utah Jazz NBA team confirmed players had tested positive for coronavirus and announced the suspension of the rest of the season. A congressional staffer tested positive. Confusing travel restrictions with Europe caused mass panic at airports, as Americans overseas tried to get home before being locked out of the country. New Yor

Last week I wrote about decluttering your company’s emotional closet. With the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changing our lives practically overnight, we are collectively on emotional overload. There's a day of reckoning that comes when we need to open that closet door wide and make the time to sort it all out. This pandemic is opening that door — and all of the things we've been stuffing inside are tumbling out. It all comes down to facing the question of: What gets to stay

We've all experienced the metaphorical (and sometimes literal) closet where we put things that we don't know what to do with. We open the door hesitantly, toss in the unwanted item, hope for the best, and quickly shut the door to contain the mess. There's a day of reckoning that comes when we need to open that closet door wide and make the time to sort it all out. This pandemic is opening that door — and all of the things we've been stuffing inside are tumbling out. It all co

Humans aren’t designed to be isolated from others and it’s our connection to other people that is our lifeline right now.

There’s an expression that I’ve heard several times over the last week -- We aren’t working from home, we are living through a crisis trying to work. This is an accurate description of the reality as millions of people and businesses have shifted their normal operating procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. There isn’t a person or a team that I’ve spoken to in the last ~45+ days who isn’t suffering from the mental, emotional, spiritual and mental toll and roller coaster tha

When’s the last time you heard someone say “I love to be micromanaged!”? Never. No one likes it. It's costly and slows down progress.

Clear, direct and specific communication, leadership presence, innovation and motivating behavior changes are essential for success.

Leading through uncertain times requires a certain amount of vulnerability and trust. Life has radically changed seemingly overnight. You had your plan and the world shifted on you. Now, it’s time for you to shift your plan. This will require you to be flexible and nimble. We are still in the thick of it, so we haven’t yet felt the full effect of this monumental shift. The ripple effect will be felt for years and even decades to come as a whole new generation is at a critica

Reflective listening is a communication strategy involving two key steps. It reconstructs what the other person is thinking and feeling.

Leaders have a real impact on the quality of human lives.One person has a significant impact when they hold a position of leadership.

The world of work has changed a lot over the past decade and even just in the last few years. The great talent crisis is getting harder and harder to navigate. Employee turnover has been trending up with an 88% increase since 2010 according to the 2019 Retention Report: Trends, Reasons and a Call to Action by Work Institute. That’s a huge increase in a decade! Particularly when the findings of the report show that 3 out of 4 employees who quit could have been retained, and vo

If someone had told you when you were interviewing for that leadership role that a large part of your job would now be to have difficult conversations regularly...would you have taken the job? When you took the job, were you offered training on how to have those difficult conversations effectively? Probably not, on both counts. I was 22 when I took my first leadership role. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I managed a team of about 15, one of which had been w

Most businesses suffer from moving too fast with not enough planning or depth of conversation. There’s a lot of missed communication.

Avoidance is costly and leads to toxic workplaces. Time to take action!