We all have tendencies. Speaking up too much—or not enough. Reacting too quickly—or too slowly. Promising too much—or not enough. Knowing we have a strong tendency allows us to compensate for it in situations where that particular tendency decreases the chance of the best thing happening. (Part II in the series)

We all have tendencies. Speaking up too much—or not enough. Reacting too quickly—or too slowly. Promising too much—or not enough. Knowing we have a strong tendency allows us to compensate for it in situations where that particular tendency decreases the chance of the best thing happening.

Failure may be real and consequential. Or imaginary. It may relate to an absolute measure or happen only in your head. Much of what looks like failure is anything but. Yet it can sink into your heart and land in your gut. Then rise at any time to talk to you.

The ExecuDeck was started in partnership with a CEO who wanted to facilitate the conversations that mattered most among his leaders. It is an ongoing and evolving body of work that we make freely available to anyone interested in a fresh, simple, and innovative way to develop people.

This tool explores some of the tough rubs in relationships that have happened over the last year in the corporation we work with most. We think you will find many of them familiar too. This tool is an ongoing work and will expand over the next year.

This tool asks really big questions. What’s the shadow of loyalty, and where are we seeing it right now in the organization? What rubs are caused because we’ve assumed the value exchange motivating a person is something it’s not? What essential steps are we clear about that are also steps impossible to be certain about? …

Continue reading “Really Big Questions”

We are often aware of the orthodoxies that most limit us. What’s the first orthodoxy you challenged as a child? What orthodoxy is common with family or friends that you know to be untrue? What’s an orthodoxy that creates something of value, but when understood from a broader perspective, may occlude something of even greater …

Continue reading “Orthodoxies”

Abilities often have a polar opposite—a complement. This tool uses the sophistication of the yin-yang symbol to help you map tendencies.

We often think of autonomy and collaboration in an inverse relationship—with more of the one comes less of the other. But collaboration without autonomy often creates cultures where nobody directs or assumes personal accountability. And autonomy without collaboration is stripped of the power of relationship and is starved of resource. In the healthiest cultures, everyone …

Continue reading “Collaboration & Autonomy”

The best conversations are spacious, resource rich, and leave the other person with a sense of the conversation that grows over time even if the content of the conversation fades. They are unforgettable. Always seem like more than enough. And are infused with generosity. The best conversations take so much more into account than could …

Continue reading “Intuitive Colloquy”

Context provides the supporting matrix for all transformation. A brilliant idea seeking expression in the wrong context produces disappointing results. And often our most challenging people problems are more easily addressed by creating a better context for relationship than by simply pressing for a change in behavior.