http://mergespeaks.com/blog/">Turning Managers into Leaders

Last weekend I attended a dinner with several colleagues at an upscale restaurant in downtown Chicago.  Because we were a large group of about a dozen people, our meeting planner had pre-arranged the menu with all the courses coming to the table “family-style”.  If you’re not familiar with this phrase, it simply means that instead of the meals being individually plated, they’re brought to the table in large serving bowls or platters and then passed around for everyone to help themselves … sort of like you might do at the family dinner table.  The food was not only delicious, but also beautifully presented.  In fact, you can see two of the desserts in the photo.

But there was one problem!  Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I had lunch with my professional colleague (and good friend) Nora, and we got to talking about excellent books we’ve recently read.  Great by Choice (written by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen) topped Nora’s list, and as she told me about the book, one sentence in particular caught my attention.

The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive

The authors make this statement as they explore what behaviours it takes for companies and organizations to thrive in chaotic and uncertain environments.  Obviously, it’s a response to the age-old adage “you polish your skills by doing it right, but you learn from making mistakes”.  Read the rest of this entry »

You might have already read about the public relations nightmare that Papa Johns, the international fast-food pizza chain, faced recently.  But if you haven’t …

Last Monday, on January 7, Minhee Cho stopped in to pick up a pizza at a Manhattan location of this chain.  The young cashier rang in the sale, and then typed in a description on the receipt to identify the customer.  The description – “lady chinky eyes”.  Ms. Cho, not surprisingly, was a tad bit offended and posted a picture of the receipt on her Twitter account with the following text: Hey @PapaJohns just FYI my name isn’t “lady chinky eyes”.  Also not surprisingly, the photo went viral.  In fact, last I checked, it had been viewed 244,843 times.

Read the rest of this entry »

How often have we asked our people to get a job done, but then not given them access to the optimal resources and equipment they need?

The American Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic publishes Connection Magazine and I was invited to pen the opening message for the September/October issue focusing on human resources.  Read the entire article here.