Modern employees are tired of command and control management. They are looking for flexibility, personal growth, purpose, and a different lifestyle. And it's not just the younger generation. 

We must lead this workforce differently. But how?

Flashback Friday: A popular blog post from 2020 with a message that is just as important today. Is your organization playing the infinite game? What is your Just Cause?

“The true value of an organization is measured by the desire others have to contribute to that organization’s ability to keep succeeding, not just during the time they are there, but well beyond their own tenure.” - Simon Sinek, The Infinite Game

In 2009’s Start With Why, author Simon Sinek makes the point that all organizations and individuals have a “Why.” It’s our origin story, the reason we do what we do.

Why is our purpose, cause, or belief. Our purpose comes from our past. It’s born out of how we were raised and the values we were exposed to.

And, according to Sinek, it’s far more important than how you do it or what you deliver. As he often says, “People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”

Every quarter, our employees meet with their manager to address two very basic questions:

1. What's working?
2. What's not working? 

These questions may not seem like much on the surface. But after thinking through them quarter after quarter, I’ve started to realize just how powerful they can be.

We’ve all heard the clichés:

Today's post is authored by guest blogger Jay Mattern, CEO of Villing+Company and TerraFirma Marketing. We hope you enjoy Jay’s leadership wisdom and insight.

Flashback Friday: I know my parents don't love this story, but it is one of our most popular blogs and the experience taught me some valuable lessons. 

“You know it’s illegal what they’re doing. Making you work and all,” said Larry’s mom. Larry and his family lived next door to my family growing up. He and I were typical neighborhood buddies. While Larry and I liked all the same things boys our age typically did, our parents were anything but similar.

As my 6^th grade year was coming to an end, my Dad made it known that it was time for me to “go to work.” I would have my choice of working around the house every day of my summer break doing various chores, for free; or I could find someone willing to pay me. But either way, I’d be working forty hours per week.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Nancy Owsianowski, Founder of RoundTable Consulting, LLC. We hope you enjoy Nancy’s wisdom and perspective.

What’s getting lost in translation within your organization or between your organization and others? Effective communication is the backbone of a high-performance organization. Statistics reported by Pumble indicate that more than three-quarters of employees and executives attribute workplace failures to a lack of effective communications. Similarly, when teams communicate effectively, productivity could increase by as much as 25%. Onsite, hybrid and remote working options place new demands on everyday communications. In addition, five distinct generations are now present and active in the workforce and need to collaborate.

Take a close look at your own organization. Are your habits of communication building bridges for collaboration and trust or creating barriers that fragment your company culture and undermine mutual respect?

The most common question I encounter daily is “How are you?” Typically, my response centers around being busy.

What does it mean to "live abundantly" in business and how do we take ownership of this mindset? There’s no shortage of information on what "living abundantly" means from a spiritual or philosophical perspective (22.7 million search results on Google) and specifically what it means in different faith traditions. However, the phrase takes on a bit of mystery when  reappropriated for the world of work.

It begins with humility and gratitude in knowing that we’re fortunate and empowered to attract opportunities and realize our potential. However, with current scarcity of resources whether through labor shortages, rising costs, or supply backlogs, it can be challenging to find pathways toward living abundantly in business.

At Gibson, our core values provide guideposts around what it means to live abundantly and how to take ownership of the mindset. Let's review some of these to get a better grasp on the idea of abundance in business and how it's applied within our organization.

Flashback Friday: Do The Right Thing is still a value we live by at Gibson. Give this popular blog from 2014 a read. Does integrity “live” at your organization and in your relationships?

One of our Core Values is: Integrity Matters - Always Do the Right Thing. It seems elementary to ask why integrity matters. The answers are all too obvious, right? Yet all too often there are examples of integrity issues in our world, in business and in our personal affairs.

I checked out a few dictionaries online and they define integrity as: The quality of being honest and fair; the state of being complete or whole; an adherence to moral and ethical principles; to be honest and have sound moral character.

One of my partners, Mark Wobbe, pointed me to another website that offers a simple formula to define integrity:

Integrity = (Accountability + Competence + Ethics) – Corruption