ChoinqueCast

In a recent coaching call, a client shared a significant challenge - how to grow a team from 200 to possibly 700 this calendar year - without having the proverbial “wheels come off.” We talked about the importance of front line supervisors who take care of the teams at “the tip of the spear.” The topic of accountability came up. Recall from our Academy Leadership Excellence Course s that 83% of or...

In choinquecast eleven we meet the author of “ Disrupt Yourself ," Whitney Johnson , who developed her proprietary framework and diagnostics after having founded the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen. This framework is complemented by a deep understanding of how executives create and destroy value, having spent nearly a decade as an Institutional In...

“Nothing affects the learning culture of an organization more than the skill with which its executive team receives feedback.” from Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen ’s eye-opening Thanks for the Feedback candidly and systematically breaks down why receiving feedback is so difficult and what we as leaders and our organizations can do about it. Notice the emphasis on receiving feedback rather than of...

The scarcity mindset. What is that? According to Whitney Johnson in Disrupt Yourself it is the failure to see the abundance in another person’s success and is actually a form of entitlement. Her antidote: A gratitude journal, or a written list of three things you are thankful for each day and why. To some degree, we all seem to be conditioned by this both destructive, and limiting, mindset. For ex...

Two recent client exchanges are worth sharing. The first was a visit to Tesla’s Gigafactory site in Nevada, the second a series of conversations with a director at a major health care consortium. Both on the drive to the Gigafactory site with a client and as a passenger on numerous Uber trips in Reno, discussion about the local area centered on the tectonic transformation occurring in the Reno/Spa...

Choinquecast ten introduces Dr. Amy Cooper Hakim , an industrial-organizational psychology practitioner and workplace expert. She is a speaker, author, and the executive consultant and founder of The Cooper Strategic Group. She helps employees and employers to get along better, and coaches leaders and employees to improve productivity, morale, satisfaction, and overall work-life balance. Her book,...

It’s pop quiz time again. What are the four most dangerous words in a leader’s vocabulary? According to Kelly & Bobby Riggs  -- in their pathfinder book, Counter Mentor Leadership  -- the answer is: "I don’t have time." Let’s do a quick self-evaluation: When is the last time you said that to yourself, or, even worse, when was the last time you told that to someone you are respon...

In choinquecast nine we’re introduced to the power of attention management by Maura Nevel Thomas , an award-winning international speaker, trainer, and author on individual and corporate productivity, attention management, and work-life balance. Maura has trained thousands using her Empowered Productivity™ System , a process for achieving significant results and living a life of cho...

Have you ever wondered why some days are exhausting and some days seem magically energizing? There’s no shortage of management and efficiency books and exercises offering advice how we may manage our time better. However, like the best athletes, the most effective leaders focus on energy levels, not time. In Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz ’s marvelous book, The Power of Full Engagement , two paradigm...

How well do you communicate with others? Do your subordinates and team perform as well as you would like? Have you thought about how you might improve your communication skills and raise your game? Christine Comaford , author of Smart Tribes , mentions five types of communication in her Clarity of Intentions and Energy section — Information sharing, requests, promises, sharing of oneself and debat...

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, is home to an amazing collection of giraffes, seventeen in total. During a recent tour, my daughter & I noticed most of the giraffes were outside. Our tour guide Amy showed us the giraffe’s indoor facility where a training, or enrichment environment was set up. Four of the giraffes were here, performing specific, positive tasks for the trainer, and af...

Choinquecast eight showcases one of the finest examples of leadership, program management, and innovation you may not know about. Durrell Hillis had responsibility for the research, design, and development of advanced communication and electronic systems for a host of domestic and international commercial users, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense, an...

During the second of three coaching sessions following an Academy Leadership Excellence Course, a client in a highly technical profession critical to national defense shared an uncomfortable decision made since our first coaching call. Turns out the client fired a team member, who was described in our initial discussion as a “challenge employee.” Chances are you may have a similar term for someone...

For choinquecast seven we connect with Susan Packard , who helped to build powerhouse media brands like HBO, CNBC, and HGTV. She was the co-founder of Scripps Networks Interactive and former chief operating officer of HGTV. Under Packard’s helm, HGTV became one of the fastest growing cable networks in television history. Today HGTV is available in more than 98 million U.S.homes and...

In a recent coaching session following an Academy Leadership Excellence Course, a client in the construction industry shared his action plan progress. One of his documented leadership lessons was: “I have no idea if the people on my team are motivated and need to get to know them better through some motivation assessments that will allow me to understand them better.” The client then described a p...

Our sixth choinquecast kick-starts our productivity with Carson Tate , creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® and the Work Smarter, Not Harder program. Carson is an internationally-renowned productivity expert and coach with strategies featured in top-tier business media including Bloomberg Businessweek, CBS Money Watch, Fast Company, Forbes, The New York Times, Shape, USA Today and Wo...

While recently journaling and reading over Thanksgiving in the Galapagos Islands my thoughts turned to recent Leadership Excellence Course attendees who described performance issues within their organizations. Specifically, some of them asked "How do I get people on my team, who don't work directly for me, to get more done?" As leaders, rather than just managers , we should strive to create alignm...

Our fifth choinquecast takes us on a powerful journey of positive personal transformation with Mary Shores . She is the author of Conscious Communications : A Step-by-Step Guide to Harnessing the Power of Your Words to Change Your Mind, Your Choices, and Your Life. Mary is a recognized leader of innovative thought, and has spent over a decade teaching businesses and individuals how to identify the...

How many of you are looking forward to retirement? Or just wondering what’s next? In a recent coaching session with a highly educated scientist near the end of his career, he mentioned that he wants the freedom to explore stuff on his own time & further if he had to live life over again he would go into the State Department and help our country overseas. Keep in mind my scientist colleague is...

Our fourth choinquecast persuasively argues that finding our purpose and happiness first leads to success, rather than the opposite. Distinguished keynote speaker, advisor, facilitator and executive mentor across the Asia-Pacific region and author of “ step up ” Michelle Gibbings shares her personal discovery that being known for getting things done, often by leaving her comfort zone, is far more...

Our third choinquecast reminds us that corporate purpose is more significant than corporate goals. Vice President of Best Practices for SAS and author Jill Dyché shares her stories from “ The New IT ,” written for the IT professional who wishes to connect with their overall enterprise and for the executive who wishes to understand what innovation looks like within their corporate culture.

For our second choinquecast, we'll interview Mark Crowley : Speaker, change agent for culture & engagement and author of Lead From The Heart . Mark shares his powerful personal journey confirming that the more we help others find fulfillment and purpose, the more effective leaders we actually become.

For our inaugural choinquecast, we'll interview former Navy SEAL Jeff Boss , author of Navigating Chaos , co-founder of Chaos Advantage and choinque business partner. Jeff will share leadership lessons he learned during eight deployments and how we may apply them to the workplace and to our lives.