It doesn’t take a genius.

The Gallup Q12, as it’s commonly called, is a set of 12 questions designed to measure employee engagement. Not satisfaction. Engagement. Why is that distinction important? Because satisfaction is surface-level—think free snacks in the breakroom—but engagement digs deeper. It’s about your team’s emotional connection to their work and their belief in the purpose of what they’re doing. These question...

The Gallup Q12, as it’s commonly called, is a set of 12 questions designed to measure employee engagement. Not satisfaction. Engagement. Why is that distinction important? Because satisfaction is surface-level—think free snacks in the breakroom—but engagement digs deeper. It’s about your team’s emotional connection to their work and their belief in the purpose of what they’re doing. These question...

The Gallup Q12, as it’s commonly called, is a set of 12 questions designed to measure employee engagement. Not satisfaction. Engagement. Why is that distinction important? Because satisfaction is surface-level—think free snacks in the breakroom—but engagement digs deeper. It’s about your team’s emotional connection to their work and their belief in the purpose of what they’re doing. These question...

The Gallup Q12, as it’s commonly called, is a set of 12 questions designed to measure employee engagement. Not satisfaction. Engagement. Why is that distinction important? Because satisfaction is surface-level—think free snacks in the breakroom—but engagement digs deeper. It’s about your team’s emotional connection to their work and their belief in the purpose of what they’re doing. These question...

WARNING: This episode features physical and sexual child abuse, as well as suicide. She is a cherished wife and mother of four successful children. She owns her own cleaning business. She is usually the most positive person in the room. And yet she started life in an orphanage in Moldova, surviving years of some of the worst trauma. What was life like in Soviet and post-Soviet culture? What gave h...

WARNING: This episode features physical and sexual child abuse, as well as suicide. She is a cherished wife and mother of four successful children. She owns her own cleaning business. She is usually the most positive person in the room. And yet she started life in an orphanage in Moldova, surviving years of some of the worst trauma. What was life like in Soviet and post-Soviet culture? What gave h...

Stephen R. Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is something you've probably used, even if you can't name the seven habits. A core principle is this: At all times, you can focus on only one of two things. And that focus will determine your trajectory.  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

The man whose face launched a thousand memes (warning: language) figured out long ago the importance of reminders over instruction. Reminders help us maintain habits and practices. And stories are reminders on steroids. Stay tuned for wisdom from the Dr. Johnson.  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great...

Your boss was incredibly successful because he or she had you! What happens after you get promoted and the team you are now leading no longer has a "you?" Recreating yourself as a leader means shifting focus from personal achievement to team empowerment. Your new role is about creating opportunities for others to shine, building trust and independence. Interested in coaching or training on these t...

Want a corporate culture as strong as Western Civilization itself? Find your stories.  Mark and Mike discuss the importance of stories in shaping culture and their potential impact on an organization. They discuss three kinds: "origin stories," "stories of bad times and lessons learned" and "stories of heroes and triumph." They can help you and your people not just understand but shape your cultur...

Do the rules not apply to you? No, really: Have you ever been with a company that announced new rules that seemed completely unneeded? You might have been a part of LCD Management.  It happens to the best of us in leadership--and there are simple methods to avoid all the problems it causes.  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email...

Thought-provoking feedback from a listener inspired this followup episode about the two things that made Western culture so strong and long-lasting : Dignity and Excellence. Excellence has evolved over the millennia ... and Dignity is a relative upstart. If they work for growing culture ... could they work for growing you?  (Check out this episode on our YouTube channel to see the graphics.) Inter...

Want more on time management and delegation?  There is even more to glean from Harvard Business Review's second-most popular article. We covered 1-3-1 last episode ... now it's time to address the rules for monkeys that allow you to tackle gorillas.  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

Discover how to stop getting bogged down by your team's challenges and start empowering them to solve problems on their own. In this episode, Mark and Mike introduce the powerful 1-3-1 delegation method, a game-changing approach for managers who want to stay focused on leadership without being drawn into every issue. They also dive into why it’s crucial for employees to show up with solutions inst...

Do you strive for Excellence? Do you honor Dignity? If you don't have both, you're missing out on what made the West so successful. Enjoy some ideas from Mark's upcoming book, "The Lost Tools of Business."  (Mark's podcast interview on Refining Rhetoric is found here .) Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

Mike and Mark kept meaning to record an episode on DiSC, and Mark had a request for the very same thing after a recent speaking engagement.  Two questions! That's all it takes to tap into a system used to describe and make use of our differences for, literally, millennia. (If you'd like to take Wylie's excellent DiSC assessments, drop us a line.)  Interested in coaching or training on these topics...

Mike has been noticing a trend ... and after some research, he has realized: We are all doomed. The Customer Experience Death Spiral® has come. (Unless we break out of it, that is--listen in for some tips.) Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

Introducing our new series on memes that are going viral with employees--and have something to say about their engagement and your leadership. How informed are your workers? If they are not proactive about getting informed ... are you the reason?  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

Are you too arrogant to delegate? "One of our two listeners" had a great follow-up to Mike's story about the managers who weren't interested in winning. And Mike has a follow-up to what happened with that client.   (FYI, Dow leads an amazing dojo called The Way Karate ... so clearly he gets our "Dow-ist"/Taoist joke.)  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd l...

Sales training: It's never too early! Mark shares how his kids prepared for the 4-H Country Ham Project. Roleplaying cold calls helped them earn big money. But there is a bigger agenda at play ... are you making use of it in your training?  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

Do you suffer from Mood-Dependent Excellence? Do you know why your back-to-basics meeting won't solve your problems? Do you understand the difference between training and coaching?  Chris Hunsicker joins Mike again to unpack a chapter of his book, "Unstoppable Culture: A Step-by-Step Guide to Create a Relentless, Results-Driven, High-Performing Team."  Grab a pen--lots of practical tips in this ep...

Our friend and mentor, Chris Hunsicker, travels the globe helping clients transform organizational culture and leadership. And he just published a book that captures many of the principles and tools he shares: "Unstoppable Culture: A Step-by-Step Guide to Create a Relentless, Results-Driven, High-Performing Team" Chris shares how he wrote it--and how you can use the process (structure, tiny habits...

The CDK shutdown: A crisis so big it impacted the GDP. Mike and Mark watched a firm not just survive but thrive, thanks to five key behaviors.  And it turns out there is a plot twist involved.  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark .

We are always online, always stimulated. Apps that attempt authentic experience fail ... but your phone can alert you to gamble on Dave & Buster's games . (You read that correctly.)  How can your employee experience engage such online, overly stimulated workers? There are four keys. ...  Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email...