Nifty Free Visionary Thinking Tool for Business, Nonprofits and Individuals
You’ve got to take a look at this elegantly simple Business Model Canvas. It could help you gain clarity whether you’re creating a whole new business, a new product or service, getting your non-profit to think more like a business, or even looking for a new job. Use it to strategize and communicate to others. Here’s what it looks like but don’t underestimate it! You...
Read MoreTake the Shape Quiz to learn about yourself and colleagues
This fun quiz is designed to get you thinking about how different we are. It’s important to understand that you approach your work with a style and perspective that varies from your colleagues. Understanding and appreciating the strengths within those differences allows you to become more successful. You can start to work with the differences rather than against them. It’s not meant to be a label – people are far too interesting and multi-dimensional for that. Still,...
Read MoreSummer Short Bytes: Find Time to Think
“I look at my calendar and find no time to think.” If you are always doing and never thinking, is your focus on detail or big picture? Are you a good role model? The work won’t go away, so here are changes you can make. Last week I wrote about about the necessity of down time for creativity and problem solving. I’ve written before about the importance of time to think. You need space in your day and space in your brain for new ideas. Without intention to create space, it won’t...
Read MoreSummer Short Bytes – Creativity
Who cares about creativity? You should. Get creative to address the complex problems coming your way, do more with less. exceed customer expectations, respond to changing environmental conditions. But how? Isn’t being smart good enough? Creativity and intelligence aren’t the same brain process, according to.Dr. Rex Jung, a neuroscientist who’s studied intelligence and creativity. He defines creativity as something that is both novel and useful, in a recent podcast from On...
Read MoreFighting Fatigue and Stress
Seventeen days in a row without a day off. Problems with an elderly parent’s health. Combining stress and fatigue has serious implications for workplace safety, risk, problem solving, and social skills. What happens when we use up our emotional and physical resources? Usually I write about a client’s problem or question. This week, it was my own experience that got me thinking about the impact of fatigue and stress. Because of an unusual confluence of events and poor planning, I ended...
Read MoreComfort with uncertainty
What’s your tolerance for uncertainty? As a leader, either too much or too little is bad for your health, and bad for the health of the organization you lead. Unfortunately, more and more our world surrounds us with uncertainty. A few weeks ago I was working with a client in an organization that has an ownership team that has an amazing willingness to live with uncertainty. They hold off making decisions. They collect data from widely varied sources. No decision that has been...
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