Throwback Thursday: How do you move away from "The Doctor Is In" approach to a healthier and more productive workplace? The difference lies in a simple question. Give this throwback blog from 2018 a read for a great reminder and change in perspective. 

Like the Peanuts cartoon depicts, organizations often have someone operating a complaint department. Most visitors are well-intentioned in their session with the company “therapist.” They’re seeking coaching or advice on a challenging issue and plan to act upon it. Unfortunately, what they often get back is the equivalent of Lucy’s “Eat a jelly-bread sandwich” guidance to Charlie Brown.

Alternatively, they may just be looking to release some pent-up frustration. They’re looking for “a sympathetic ear, and the promise of keeping things ‘between us.’ In many organizations, these therapists seem to serve a valuable purpose – or at least do no real harm,” writes author, speaker, and business leader Mike Paton.

But is that really the case? Does this habit of “complaint departments” really cause no harm?

According to Tom Peters, lunch is sacred. As he sees it, throughout the year we have “225 golden-never-to-be-repeated opportunities” to meet new people, learn new things, and build and nurture relationships inside and outside our organizations.

Okay, I like lunch as much as the next person. I fill my shared lunch hours with friends and colleagues whenever I can. But I’ve never thought of it as sacred. What gives?

Throwback Thursday: Tom Peters' The Excellence Dividend provides a business case for leaders putting their people first. But what does it mean for employers to REALLY put their people first?

It’s said that most adults will spend one third of their life at work. That’s roughly 90,000 hours! Putting it in these terms provides a different context in which to view the employer-employee relationship.

Author Tom Peters says leaders need to accept responsibility for the role they play in employees’ lives. “Every leader has a moral obligation [today] to develop people so that when they leave, they are better prepared for tomorrow than when they arrived,” writes Peters.

That’s heavy. I care about our people a lot. I think about the 150+ families relying on our leaders to make good decisions with the best interest of our team at heart. Yet “moral obligation” is an even larger burden. And you know what? He’s right. We owe that to our team.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed team victories more than individual accomplishments. What’s the point of doing “it” if you can’t share the experience with others?

As much as I enjoy blogging, hosting The Edge Podcast and getting the opportunity to talk with leaders about their journeys has been a great experience! Teams, hard work, collaboration, sacrifice, family - we have hit on so many topics and I know I've learned a lot from these episodes - I hope you have, too! 

Let's celebrate our most popular podcast episodes of 2022:

It has been nearly 10 years since my first leadership blog. In the past decade, I've written over 150 posts and we've collaborated with hundreds of guest bloggers to bring you a diverse collection of leadership insights. As each year comes to a close, I enjoy reflecting on the lessons, experiences, and stories shared.

Let's take a look at our most popular blogs of 2022:

Last night took a L, but tonight I bounce back. Wake up every morning, by the night, I count stacks. ~ Big Sean, “Bounce Back”

After graduating from a renowned Swiss university, the great Albert Einstein could only secure a job that was well below his abilities in a patent office. During this time he also had a child out of wedlock with a girlfriend his family seriously did not like. It's been said his father died believing Albert was a complete failure. 

Yet the patent job exposed him to all kinds of ideas and helped develop in him a healthy skepticism to challenge conventional thinking. Additionally, the limited burdens of the role left him with ample time to experiment and explore his interests.

What if young Einstein’s path had been different? Would he have become the genius who transformed what the world thinks about physics?

Flashback Friday: My team often hears me bring up the Stockdale Paradox. Ever since I read about Admiral Stockdale in Jim Collin's book, the lesson of pragmatic optimism has stuck with me. 

It was from Jim Collins’ masterpiece Good To Great that I learned Admiral James Stockdale was something other than Ross Perot’s running mate in the 1992 presidential election. Long before he was a target of Saturday Night Live’s irreverent humor, Stockdale was the highest ranking naval officer to be held as a POW in Vietnam.

After Stockdale's A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over North Vietnam in 1965, he shared space at the “Hanoi Hilton” with, among others, John McCain. He was brutally beaten, starved, and denied medical care, never knowing if he would survive or see his family again, until his release in 1973.

Stockdale and his wife Sybil shared their story by writing alternating chapters in the book In Love and War. Collins, in preparing to meet Admiral Stockdale, read his book, describing it as bleak and depressing, even though he knew that Stockdale got out and reunited with his family. When Collins asked Stockdale what it felt like living the story and not knowing how it ended, he replied:

Flashback Friday: The call for courageous leadership has gone out - how will you answer?

Anchored by a Just Cause, infinite games require courageous leadership. According to author Simon Sinek that means being willing to stand up to internal and external pressure to conform, in order to stay true to your cause.

Flashback Friday: Attitude and effort is still what it is all about. Give this popular 2018 blog a read. Are you being open minded and giving your best effort? 

About a year into my tenure at Gibson, I was named to the Leadership Team and responsible for our revenue and growth in a “Chief Growth Officer” role. Not only was I new to Gibson, I previously had no technical knowledge or career experience in two of our three business units. Before my first major meeting with our group, I was already hearing the whispers about this newly created role and my (lack of) qualifications to be in it.