change

I was on my way this past Sunday morning to pick up my weekly batch of donuts.  Later in the day I made sure I stopped at the store on my way home from an In ‘n Out burger to get my potato chips and pint of ice cream.  Call it my Sunday ritual.

It’s part of how I stay fit and trim.  In the past few months by eating all that garbage I’ve lost three belt loops on my pants (that’s about 4 ½ inches)

Imagine you were your competition. Now – as your competition – create a plan to put yourselves out of business.

This may not seem like the question you would want to be asking yourself. One goal of every organization is at the least to stay in business, if not even thrive.

Because we never do is exactly why I recently asked a leadership team to answer that exact question.

After I asked the question, there was some nervous laughter in the room. Was I serious?? 

Listen in as Billie Alban and I talk about how we've deepened our learning and improved client work by inviting colleagues to think through issues and opportunities in our practices.

Several years ago I was working with an organization that was taking on a major transformation effort. They were restructuring the business, changing how people worked, and shifting the culture to one of “open communications.” Information had been power in this business so at face value, these goals made good sense.

I was meeting with the senior human resources executives in the company, exploring what these changes would mean for them and those they served in the organization. How were they going to “open communications” across the organization to support the transformation effort?

In the middle of a brainstorm to identify ways to do this, one of the executives (let’s call her Sandy) blurted out, “To tell you the truth, I am not that interested in more "open communications."

My 115 pound black lab Theo spent most of yesterday re-asserting his dominance among our small pack of dogs in the house (3 dogs, 2500 square feet…don’t ask). He spent the day knocking our new scrappy puppy Bonnie to the floor, growling to keep her in her place, and generally got back to being the “man in the house” (dog-wise at least).