A New Direction

Let’s be honest the real test of a leader is how are they leading in a crisis.  And there has been no greater crisis in most of our lifetimes then dealing with our world and Covid-19.  If you are an aspiring leader, or perhaps a current leader and you are questioning your ability to lead, you would not be alone.   But there is hope!  Author, Executive Coach, and former journalist Atholl Dunc...

Every business focuses on pretty much the same thing…the numbers, or as we like to say, “the analytics”.  But like a doctor who can only prescribe medicine for the symptoms, the numbers, or analytics cannot get to the core of your issues and problems.  What is more the number and analytics cannot solve your problems.  But Creativity can!  This is the problem with society in gener...

Opportunity is truly all around us.   However, so few of us capitalize on them and for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes we don’t see them because of fear, sometimes we miss them because of our attitude of negativity, or perhaps we miss it because we simply do not have the skills to recognize opportunities.  So how do we develop those skills?  Well fortunately for us on this episode of A New...

According to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 7-8% of the population is suffering from this malady.  It is often ignored, misunderstood, and often attribute other reasons to the behavior of those with PTSD.   For sure those men and women who are or were combat veterans, first responders, and Covid front line workers have the greatest potential to develop PTSD.  The sta...

Do you know who stands in the way of your personal, professional and relationship success? You.  So often we want to blame our circumstances or other people but the real truth is we are ultimately responsible for the decisions we make, our own happiness, but we are equally responsible for how we respond to  what life throws at us.  When it comes right down to it, who is most accountable…it&#...

Everyone wants to be a manager.  They have this erroneous belief that when you become a manager that you have extra benefits and your work is less.  DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT!  There is a reason why there are so many managing jobs out there.  One is because in a very short time people realize that the work and responsibility is more.  Two, they realize they are over their head and it’s hard...

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic more business are having their employees work from home.  And when it comes to remote work some companies love it and some do not.  This is also true of employees.  More introverts feel like they have reached the mecca, while the extroverts are suffering.  So then when it comes to remote work what does a business need to do to survive and thrive?  And what about the emp...

There is so much written on company and corporate culture that it would be impossible to read it all in a life time.  Most of what is written can be classified as “pop culture”.  We often get clever sayings like, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”.   But does it really?  To start with what is culture when it comes to a company?  Do we really understand it?  We assume tha...

We all will experience conflict, but how do we handle it?  Are you a conflict avoider?  Hoping the problem will go away.  Maybe you are a conflict enforcer?  Where you take control of situation and it is your way or the hi-way.  Perhaps your a conflict manager?  You just want to manage the conflict not really dealing with the issues in an attempt to smooth it over.  There is a better way!  And it...

There was a time when men and women had specific roles in their relationship.  Typically the man worked at his job, and the wife stayed at home.  While that seems archaic by today’s standards the fact of the matter was it actually made the relationship much easier and steadier because everyone knew their role, and as we often say today, “they stayed in their lane”. Today’s...

Did you that more than 17,000,000 employees this year will experience some sort of loss that will lead to their grief?  Meaning that 47,000 employees today are walking into work in grief having experienced some tragic loss in their life.  Did you also know that grief costs companies around $75 Billion in productivity loss a year.  The fact is friends our leadership is failing those who grieve in o...

There are so many theories on Leadership it can get quite exhausting.  In fact Leadership theory is wide and so vast you may find yourself throwing your arms up in the air and saying, “I’m just going to do leadership my way”.  Well it is confusing.  And it causes us to ask more questions, such as: “Is leadership the same as leading?”, “Is managing the same as le...

Are you leading from your current job?  Why not?  Have you discovered what you are purpose in  your current job?  What?  Why?  Are you thinking to yourself well I am just a (fill in the blank).  You are NOT a “just a”.  You are and can be a leader from your current job.  Being a leader does not require a title.  Being a leader is a change of attitude.  It is also a change in action.  A...

In today’s world more people than ever have a home office.  And as nice as that sounds and can be, it is not always conducive to productivity.  As a matter of fact you home office may be more home than office.  And the idea of trying to “balance” your work and your life from your home office?  Well, there is no such thing as balance.  In fact, it is really more of a blend and com...

As an entrepreneur we typically are idea people.  Some of us are sales people, but it seems like the more entrepreneurs I interview the more I see their creative side than their sales side.  Sometimes it appears to be an attitude of, “if I build it, they will come”.  The truth is many entrepreneur types not only have a problem with selling they have a problem with sales people in gener...

It is no surprise that men and women are different.  Not just our physiology, but how we communicate, handle stress, deal with conflict, the differences we see in relaxing, romancing, sex and more.  So often we can go so frustrated with these differences we can live in misery, or eventually we may get to the point where we feel like we made a mistake.  And the next thing you know we are ready to c...

Here are the facts we are in a revolution where artificial intelligence (AI), digital spaces, and technology are speedily influencing our world.  So much so that even a seemingly sound career is being affected dramatically.  In many cases jobs and careers that were done by humans have been replaced by computers.  We are also seeing that many positions salaries have decreased as machines replace hu...

When you hear the word ethics and sales they really don’t sound like they go together.  It is kind of an oil and water thing for most people.  As a matter of fact when it comes to business our colleges and universities don’t even teach ethics of sales.  It is a topic that is rarely if ever discussed and when it is, it’s because someone got into trouble over an ethics violation. W...

We all have dreams of our future.  What happens when we put all of our energy, dedication, mind, body and soul are put into it and then you get there and something outside of your control takes your dream away?  What do you do?  Especially if you have no plan B.  Well in this episode of A New Direction Podcast – Jay Izso meet former NFL kicker Sean Conley  From the time he was 8 years old he...

Relationships.  It really is what makes our life…life.  Where would we be without them?  Well, first of all you and I would not have been born so there’s that.  But, our relationships do add spice to life, and in fact we relate to not just people, but animals, places and things.  If you are married or have a significant other then you know how our relationships can affect us on the oth...

“Build me a website, that’s what we need to have a successful business”.  Then what happens?  They continue to spend money on website design, SEO,  and other IT initiatives only to do one thing…run out of money.  That marketing philosophy is the “if we build it, they will come”.  Like something out of the movie “Field of Dreams”.  The only thing you...

Success we all want it, but we often do not want to pay the price for it, or hear the answers on how to ultimately achieve it.  So often we think that success is a by product of getting the right breaks in life or business.  Some believe that success is just given to people.  Others believe that if you focus on success you will become successful.  However, when you start talking to combat veterans...

We need to be honest with ourselves our world has changed.  It moves at an incredible pace, and as technology continues to move our problems become more complex and challenging.  How we choose to think about and solve those problems must also change.  Here is the problem:  We live in a world that has a bias of binary thinking, eliminating the gray are of possibilities, and only wants to rely on ru...

Conflict is something we all face.  It comes in many different forms, and the truth is it makes us all uncomfortable.  At the heart of conflict is the fact that one party is not getting what they want and the other party is not getting what they want.  We basically turn our backs to each other, we talk about the other party behind their back, we gather allies to support our position and the confli...

You may or may no be acquainted with “Lean Transformation” or “Lean Management”, but the truth is you more than likely employ some of the principles.  Lean management is a business wide thought process that starts with what you customer really wants and needs, then engages the employees and leadership to find ways to make that happen, by cutting waste whether that be time o...