Welcome to the World of Y2What

Those of us of a certain age were part of Y2K. Not just the moment when 1999 slipped into 2000, but the months of focused work leading up to that second. Businesses of all sizes prepared for every foreseeable outcome, based largely on whether or not complex systems underpinning our society would fail, leading to…

What’s Your Crisis Strategy?

You Can Curl Up, Adapt or Catapult — Or Maybe All Three, Depending on Your Business Over the last several weeks, I’ve been talking with clients, colleagues and friends as we all sort out our business and career strategies related to the world’s current crisis. In the course of articulating my thoughts on this topic,…

One-Third of Remote Workers Struggle, One-Third Have Difficulties. . .

One-Third Do OK, and All Managers Face Challenges How’s remote working going for you? If your business is like most, there are some bright spots and some question marks. As I’ve worked with clients over the past few weeks we’ve focused on some key things. How are you doing? How is your team doing? What…

10 Predictions about Journalism

Insights from KleinCamp — News Innovation Conference On Saturday, October 13, 2018, I had the opportunity to attend my fourth of 10 annual news innovation conferences at Temple University. Here are some notes from my favorite session this year. Ten thought leaders each shared a prediction on something they believe will be different about journalism…

Management Essentials: Mission, Process, People, Measurement & Continuous Improvement

The marketing communications team was in trouble. The CEO had let the head of the department and the number two person go. A competent, marcom professional early in her career was holding things down on an interim basis. The other team members were all competent and good people. Why were they in trouble? Management. Over…

Do You Know Your Work Strengths?

At some point in our work life, we believe we know our strengths and weaknesses. But do we really understand ourselves from an objective point of view and in a way that we can communicate our qualities effectively to our business associates? I’ve been interested in assessments since I graduated from college and took Myers-Briggs…

For My Friend Who Wanted to Slip Away Quietly

My friend, Mark Talaba, died in his sleep on December 23, 2017, from natural causes. He was a tremendously talented person – and I probably don’t know everything about all of his talents. The first thing I can tell you, however, is that much like the way he lived, he did not want anyone making…

Winshaw® Decision Management System Facilitates Better Decision-Making

Through the years, I have notoriously told my children, “Life is full of big decisions, and this is not one” as they would deliberate what outfit to buy at a store or what item to order from the menu at a restaurant. So it’s somewhat ironic that much of my work as a business coach…

How to Work with A Coach

Unless you’ve had a coach before you’re probably not sure how to work with a coach. I didn’t have consistently good experiences with sports coaches when I was a teen, so although I felt I needed a coach, I wasn’t sure what to expect when starting to work with a coach. Fortunately, I found a…

What It Takes to for Change to Succeed

I recently attended an event — the topic of which I will share in a minute. After more than an hour of panel discussion among the three panelists and the moderator, I was able to digest their keys to success as: Communication Incentives Training Focus Prioritization Managing Expectations Empathy for customers and coworkers The presentation…

Life Is Too Short to Drink Bad Wine

They say Work-Life Balance is hard. I used to really suck at it, but now I think I have it figured out. For me, anyway. This is my personal story of work-life balance. I hope you can learn from my struggle. Early in my career, I was very bad at work life balance. I would…

Team Conflict: Getting to the Heart (and Head) of the Problem

I was sitting in the team meeting holding my head in my hands. It physically hurt. Two of my team members were arguing with each other in another of their endless series of disagreements. I often wondered why they couldn’t see where the other was coming from, why they couldn’t see the need for team…

How Can I Help?

When I started my business in 2007, the proposition was that I would help business owners develop profitable marketing and business strategies. This was something that I had done previously in the corporate world with a high degree of success. As they say, no battle plan survives the first moment of contact. When the Great…

Coaching: Helping You on Your Path to Happiness

As a coach and someone who has benefited tremendously from coaching, I’d like to share my personal journey with you in the hopes that you will find it helpful for – if nothing else – knowing that you are not alone in your search for a fulfilling work and a joyful career. For the first…

Does the Quality of the Startup Team Really Matter?

Conventional wisdom says that investors believe that the quality of the startup team is essential for success. If you doubt that, take a minute and Google “importance of startup team.” I see 4,530,000 hits, including from Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, Medium.com and TechCrunch.com – all of which make great points. These articles are filled with a mix…

Who Do You Trust? Why?

I’ve been thinking about trust a lot lately. Perhaps because I am seeing so many instances where trust is lacking, or certainly could be improved upon. And so it makes me ask these questions – “Who do you trust?” and “Why do you trust them?”. This is not going to a religious post, but I…

You Don’t Have to Feel Bad about Work

If you’re thinking: “Damn, I have work tomorrow, I hate my job, and I wish I had a better job,” then you are not alone. Gallup recently reported that less than 1 in 3 workers is involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace. (See poll information here.) This hits many people…

Could You Be the Problem on Your Team?

How Do You Know if You’re the Problem on Your Team? How Do You Fix It? Lou and Susan ran a successful architectural design firm for nearly 25 years. Lou was the corporate president, and Susan was the secretary and treasurer. As a married couple, it was their dream, because they loved each other, loved…

Do You Value and Respect Your Team Members

Annie recently left her job of six years. She was the lead customer service representative for her organization – a very visible role. A lot of people were sad to see her go, but she ultimately felt great about leaving after years of successful service. Her customers loved her. She was the go-to person for…

But What If We’re Wrong?

One of the things we run into in business is that we analyze situations, make decisions and move along certain of what we know and confident that we are doing the right thing. Got it? We’re right . . . except when we are wrong. And that might be more often than we would like…