The 91st episode of the Good Leadership Breakfast aired on the eve of Memorial Day Weekend. The virtual format allowed a large cadre of good leaders to tune in while preparing for the unofficial beginning of summer. And what a treat they received, meeting Megan Remark, President and CEO of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. Megan's charisma and mental [...]
What. A. Year. 12 months ago today, most leaders were wondering about the financial future of their businesses, while learning to work from home and live without the normal routines of everyday life. And then one year ago today, George Floyd was murdered under a knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Within days the city was burning. While on vacation [...]
Shared commitments are much more powerful than rules in business partnerships. Rule-based organizations depend on a hierarchy and chain of command to keep the order and presumably to ensure quality. Shared commitments are negotiated agreements between equals that ensure people win together. The “shared” part means everyone agrees and abides by the agreements. No one gets a special pass. The “commitment” part [...]
Trust is never automatic. It only happens when people assume accountability for everything in the service/value chain, meaning everyone in that team needs to be aligned and committed. In coaching and teaching good leadership, it is important to note that trust between people is an outcome of how people feel treated. It’s the result of a sequence of three crucial principles that can be measured, trained, and perfected: First, sincerity. Team members measure sincerity when they ask: Do [...]
“An enterprise leader one Monday morning, asked me if I was calling him about his low numbers from last week,” shared Ray Kowalik, CEO of Burns & McDonnell. Kowalik was the speaker at the virtual Good Leadership Breakfast this past Friday – the subject was How accountability increases with the feeling of ownership. Kowalik continued to explain how many of [...]
The speaker for the Good Leadership Breakfast online this Friday describes himself: "I'm a corporate type during the week, but I love the get your hands dirty type of sports on the weekends." Ray Kowalik, the CEO of Burns & McDonnell, will share his insights on the theme: How Accountability Improves with the Feeling of Ownership. He's probably the most [...]
“I notice I’m having a really hard time focusing, and listening these days. I’ve lost most of my interest in Zoom meetings…and I’m extremely conscious about how others on those video calls are seeing me on those calls. I am constantly wondering if I’m meeting expectations. It’s exhausting.” “I just returned from a vacation, and I feel like I [...]
Finding clarity, with uncertain plans Now more than ever, we are looking forward to what the future holds, and find ourselves making plans for the next few months. However, for most team leaders, this means taking the time to step back and analyze how well their team has been performing and what needs improvement. Through conversations with numerous leaders, [...]
Last Friday we hosted the first Good Leadership Breakfast of 2021 with guest speaker Bruce DeWitt, CEO of Testek. The conversation with Bruce centered around the idea of Operational Assurance, which he implemented within his own organization to great success. Operational Assurance means: Directors and managers deliver on the day-to-day tactics, so the executive team can deliver on transformational [...]
This Friday marks the return of the Good Leadership Breakfast - free, virtually, online. Through the encouragement and generosity of a vibrant group of sponsors, the breakfast is will be beamed across the land from a TV studio in Minneapolis. The 9 AM central time broadcast allows for clients and friends from east to west coasts to tap into [...]