In this series, we’re discussing five guiding principles on negotiating agreements. The final principle is to lean towards being generous. In the story of Joseph, Egypt had seven years of famine. To afford to buy food, all Egyptians sold their land to Pharoah. Pharoah, however, needed them to farm the land, so Joseph worked out a win/win sharecropping arrangement. In ...
In this series, we’re discussing five guiding principles on negotiating agreements. The fourth principle is to always work towards a win/win agreement. Stan was a bank customer who believed he always needed to win all points of every negotiation so that the bank was the loser, and his business was the winner. Although Stan won occasional battles, it didn’t bode ...
Leslie was frustrated with her boss. Although he told Leslie privately that she was performing well, that support disappeared whenever another manager questioned Leslie’s work. Her supervisor failed to defend Leslie and instead deferred to other managers, telling Leslie it is better to “go along to get along.” Although Leslie loved the company and her work, her supervisor’s behavior caused ...
My first professional job was as a daily newspaper reporter. I got along with all my coworkers except the publisher’s assistant. Reporting to the top executive, she had (what I thought was) a condescending attitude to the lowly reporters, and to me, in particular. On my last day, I sent flowers and a card to the newsroom, listing everyone – ...
When Susan received an email from a client who was frustrated that no one had responded to his earlier note, she was surprised by the sender’s tone. His words expressed his anger at the organization’s lack of response. Susan could have returned the sender’s emotion or ignored his not-so-subtle sarcasm. Instead, she took responsibility for a mistake that was not ...
If you’ve been a leader for long, you’ve likely experienced customers or past employees sharing negative things about you and or your business. For those who take things personally, or are overly sensitive, these unkind attacks can be devastating. The challenge is to discern what criticism is legitimate versus complaints that are not helpful. These moments can be a learning ...
While many prepare for year-end festivities, many generous entrepreneurs are examining their estimated bottom-line profit for the past year. These men and women are making decisions on how to minimize taxes and how much to give to charity. Doublethedonation.com claims that 10% of annual charitable giving comes in the last three days of the year. Many business leaders now ...
As many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments across Corporate America dissolve, many may wonder how we arrived here. Many policies were established with the sincere desire of offering better treatment and opportunity to minorities who had experienced injustice. However, many non-minority competent people were passed over for jobs, resulting in claims and lawsuits from those who felt like they were ...
In this series we’re discussing the importance of leaders showing empathy to their team members from an article written by Jason Richmond in forbes.com. Jason’s next suggestion is to be curious. Charles is a task-focused manager who has not been very curious about the lives of his employees, resulting in poor ratings as a leader. Fortunately, Charles’ boss implemented software ...
In an article on forbes.com titled, Empathy as a Workplace Superpower, the author, Jason Richmond, notes the importance of leaders showing empathy to their team members. Jason’s next suggestion in this series is to become an active listener. Although I’m typically a good listener, I’m known to have a poker face making it hard for people to read me. When ...
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