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Journal Archive

Values and All things Good

Listen to the Oppressed

We listen to the rich, but we need to learn to listen to the oppressed. The voices that are often not heard are the ones that can add a dimension to a growth strategy that can’t be found at the top of the organization. It’s not glamorous and it likely won’t make it into the PPT slide that goes to the CEO or to the Board. It will however make a difference in how that strategy actually becomes reality. And you’ve heard me say it before. A strategy not made into reality is just a set of theoretical slides. Strategy has to be about the outcomes that are created.
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Walking the Walk.

This story is telling! Jeffrey Swartz, the CEO of the Timberland Co., strode purposefully into a New York office packed with McDonald’s executives. Dressed in a blazer, jeans, and Timberland boots, he was there on this mid-August day to convince…
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Reaching Good Decisions

I spent a walk last week with a friend who is struggling to make a good decision. It’s more a personal decision rather than a professional one. And yet I think the decision process he’s facing is the one all…
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What is it with competitiveness?

A wife of a friend is participating in local politics now and is discovering some new kinds of interactions. One of her “friends” didn’t want her to run, as she wanted to. But then changed her mind. And feels “hurt”…
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Bouncing Back

I’d like to believe this feeling I’m having now is going to last. I’ve been given what feels like a second chance. For most of 2006, I’ve been sick at a low-grade enough level where I could continue to work…
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The dreaded but great List

I found this an interesting point of view. “List Consciousness is a state of mind that is entirely future-oriented. With a subtle but constant quality of rushing, it operates on the premise that life will happen once everything is crossed…
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Grade school idea applied to Business, perhaps?

Today, I led a session at the WITI conference on Spirituality & Business. We worked on 3 case studies: one with the Radioshack CEO who lied about his education as an example of classic misrepresentation, one about the pre-texting situation…
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Even Steinways get out of tune

What’s the difference between an ethical leader and a business leader? Are they mutually exclusive, a subset of each other, or one and the same? This coming week, I’m speaking and facilitating a workshop, sponsored by the national Women in…
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Workforce dynamics

Two people are playing some rather competitive games. It’s causing frustration. Lots of it. And it’s taking their eye off the ball — the marketplace, the competition, the changing customers’ needs. And if there’s one thing I wish I could do before I leave this earth is to end this cycle of wasteful behavior.
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What is it you believe?

I say all this now with the HP spying amongst the board and reports controversy recently in our midst. If the HP scandal has an underlying belief, it’s that Dunn and the board believed that finding the “truth” overrode basic ethics of disclosure, integrity between people, and the ability to see that the way in which we do things speaks loads about what we hold true. I feel sad for those that work in that culture.
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Getting over ourselves!

We in Silicon Valley try and buy happiness. We believe money brings freedom. We believe seeking happiness through security will fill us up. We believe seeking happiness through status will fill us up. We believe seeking happiness through power will…
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