Responding to Client Confidences
As an advisor you have worked hard to develop your client’s trust. As a result of this growing trust, your client will share something troubling and personal about his or her family relationships.
Pillars of Governance
Every week I see signs that our social institutions and organizations have lost their ability to accomplish key tasks, even as the urgency to do so rises.
Family Business as a Model for Sustainability and Social Responsiblity
I have been interviewing family owners of large global family enterprises that have sustained the family wealth and positive connections over several generations. One member of the 4th generation of a family--now numbering more than 100 family owners--reflected on her experience of going to annual family business meetings for nearly a half century!
Leaders as Gatekeepers and Boundary Spanners
The nature of leadership competencies is evolving because the context and challenges facing leaders in organizations today are shifting, as are the demands and speed of necessary change.
Framing the Conversation
Who among us is not experiencing frustration with the nature of the debate about the future of our government tax system?
Test Designing Organizations the Work
In the presidential campaign I have been struck by how much the dialogue is about what people are “for” and how little we talk about how to do what we want.
Emotional Self-Awareness and Empowerment: A CEO as a Spiritual Guide
With the fading of other types of hero, today we look to the CEO as a guide not just in business, but also in other areas of life. Why should we do this?
The Mantra Of Appreciation
I first learned about appreciative inquiry in the late 80s, when David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney developed their model, echoing Maslow’s idea that we look at the successful rather than pathological examples to really be helpful to individuals and organizations. At that time the concept of excellence was shaking organizations, and Covey’s habits were challenging individuals. What an idea I thought—to approach consulting not as problem solving, but as building on what you do well!
Building a Culture of Innovation: Report from the Field
After two days with 150 artists, land developers, business and government executives, architects, and players in global public/private ventures designed to change the face, lifestyles and economy of urban places, I was exhausted by the openness, creativity and most of all the pragmatic willingness to take action that I was hearing about.
Personal Resilience As a Response to Trauma: Recovery or Transformation?
Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine (March 28th, 2012) had a deeply inspiring article about some unique programs being adopted by the army to help returning war veterans with post-traumatic stress.
Reading Two Great Thinkers in Psychology
While I have been generally skeptical about the ability of academic psychology to deliver deep truths about human functioning in a complex environment, two books I have been reading have shown me that there are some wonderful work that can be done within the rubric of psychology, that has the potential of changing the way we see ourselves, make decisions and take action.
Opinion, Decision and Experience: The Lost Connection
Visiting Vietnam was a disquieting experience on many levels. It has been part of my emotional vocabulary since my college years, the center of so many arguments and social issues. I knew what we should be doing there, and what we should not, as there were always others who had deep emotional commitments to the opposite viewpoint.
You Can Only Steer A Ship With A Dashboard
Any organization is a large group of individuals, organized to achieve a task. There are many moving pieces, and many ways to see the essential task. The real challenge is how each individual can know where to put their time and energy to create the optimal synergy to achieve the organization’s results?
The Decider: Exploring Effective Group Action
Looking at the gridlock in Congress, and the failing leadership of our president, I have been reflecting on the relationship between decisions and results. Is it hard to think about the wisdom of the hive when we see Congress’ ineffectiveness.
Why A Family Needs Family Governance Across Generations
Generational transitions are a deep challenge for a family not just with a family business but who own any sort of shared assets. Of course, any sort of enterprise faces difficulty when it gets to be 20 or 30 years old—it matures, faces new competition, or declines. It needs fresh and new leadership.
Protesters:Lessons for the Persons of The Year
I had a sense of déjà vu when I heard that the “protester” was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Crucial Conversations
If there is one simple ability that makes the most difference in effective leaders who are able to enroll other people in their projects it is the ability to initiate and reach resolution in areas that arouse anxiety in either party.
Business is Personal
At the most recent summit of the Family Business Network, groups of young people and business-attired elders swarmed the lobby of the Singapore Ritz Carlton, in one of the most inspiring and unique gatherings I have ever experienced.
What Should You Learn in College
I have followed the emerging rules for higher education by the DEO with interest but also trepidation. I am for accountability in higher education, but my concern is that what can be documented is not always the real learning and growth that a student experiences.
Democracy is for Grownups
There is genuine delight on the growing voice of democracy in the Middle East, as we view the struggle to give birth to institutions that support and sustain social fairness and representation. At home, our democratic institutions are showing signs of wear, as people are frustrated by the inability to drive any sort of consistent policy in a climate of blame and recrimination that produces a stalemate. This is a good time to look at what are the preconditions in the citizens that enable democratic institutions to grow and thrive.
Slouching toward Elderhood
A personal meditation on what it is like to turn the magic age of 65, and the nature of elderhood.
Responding to Client Confidences