Category Archives: Human Resources

Privilege

“A sense of privilege is what motivates us to finish the mission.” Pastor Paul Taylor, Liberty Church Do you feel privileged? Do your employees or colleagues?

Talent vs. Time

Challenging thoughts from Brian at d’bug. After reading this, ask yourself: Am I willing to sacrifice in order to have time to be the best? What do I need to sacrifice? What do I believe should NOT be sacrificed?

Effects of Collaboration vs. Conspiracy

Alex requested I expand on the effects of collaborative communication vs. conspiratorial communication Collaboration creates teams of teams. Organizations that encourage collaboration will see greater interdepartmental and interorganizational teamwork. A sense of interdependence creates a desire to involve others in on the work at hand. Conspiracy creates lines and sides. Information is held in silos.

Ideas Are Overrated

… the originator of ideas is undervalued. My family has had a business of somekind in my hometown since 1914. That might be where I get my entrepreneurial spirit. While I was growing up, we had a local grocery store named Staiger’s Grocery. Original, isn’t it? I worked there for nearly five years. Primarily, I

SnapThoughts 1/18/08

This one is just for fun. While shopping at Kohl’s recently, I turned around and my son was gone. I called for him, but he didn’t answer. I stepped out to an aisle and started to walk to another area when I passed a group of mannequins. I stopped, turned and inspected the display a

Potential

Hope you had a great November. I’m glad to be back on my blog. Something is wrong with previous comments. They disappeared. I’m trying to fix it. Is feexed. During a recent lunch with a friend, he asked me, “What do you believe Dustin?” I thought for a moment, then his cell phone rang. I

10 Signs You’re Killing Creativity

In his popular ’06 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes an inspiring, and entertaining, argument that we are educating the creativity out of our children. It’s not hard to see how corporations are on creativity killing sprees as well. Here are the top 10 signs you’re killing creativity: 1. You Preach ‘Safety First’ If you

Where There’s a Will, There’s No Way

My brother-in-law and I had an interesting incident over Memorial Day weekend. We were having a party for my son’s first birthday. So, we went to Albertson’s to pick up my son’s birthday cake and some propane for my grill. After we paid for everything, the clerk tells the grocery bagger to help us exchange

Shiny, Happy Employees

Over at Businesspundit, Rob points to a research project that claims employee satisfaction efforts do not bear the fruit we anticipate. Read Rob’s take and let me know what you think. It boils down to whether we hire happy people, or we try to make our employees happy. Is job satisfaction and performance tied into

Challenging vs. Criticizing

One of my favorite posts (that I’ve written anyways) was Ideas vs. Opinions. I don’t know that it was 100% accurate, but I think the message was right on. I’d like to expound on this idea some more. So here’s a new comparison chart. I hope you find this helpful. I think the biggest “challenge”

A Free Exchange of Ideas

I know two people who can’t share ideas with each other. They don’t trust one another, so every comment is met with skepticism, which breeds indignation and ultimately… anger. I know others who have been trained, like one of Pavlov’s dogs, to not speak up when they disagree with an idea. It’s too risky because

Tulsa Marketing Events of Interest

Management Impact Wednesday, Feb 28th 2007 BMA Tulsa Luncheon (11:30 -1:00) Jack Hayhow of Opus Communications Focusing on the four key activities of all great managers, Jack will show how great managers provide employees what they need to increase productivity and profit. Jack and his book, Wisdom of the Flying Pig, were featured on Brand

In Sheep’s Clothing

We’re on the lookout for wolves. You know… back-stabbers, saboteurs, spies and just plain evil-doers. We suspect they’re among us. The wolf in sheep’s clothing. But there’s something much more dangerous in our midst, also masquerading as sheep. This “silent killer” of companies is much harder to find than the wolf. He wears the disguise

Business as Usual

I missed blogging last week. There’s a story behind that. I play basketball at 5:45 AM every Tuesday and Thursday. It may sound crazy to play basketball that early, but it allows me to do something I enjoy without interferring with my family time in the evenings. Last Thursday I didn’t feel very well after

7 Business Lessons of the Prodigal Son

You’ve probably heard of the prodigal son, and you probably also know it originates from a story Jesus told. (you can read it here) What you probably don’t think about is how it relates to your company. Oh boy, does it. Here are lessons from this story that we can apply to business today: 1.