Four Things They Don’t Want You To Know About Leadership Retreats

Perhaps you’ve already been on a team retreat for your work, or perhaps you’re about to go on one. Either way, there’s a host of things related to such retreats that the people organizing them would often prefer you not to know about. Here are four.
A Man Called Phud

Owen Phud. We were at a corporate reception. It was the usual cast of manager types and specialists in various fields, everything from computer software to team dynamics. I was the team dynamics guy. Music was playing. There were drinks. People were eating tiny things on sticks.
When The Bottom Line Goes Through The Heart

It’s tempting to think that we can solve problems in systems with more and better systems, and typically that’s the response from unprepared executives in crisis mode, desperate to keep the share price up and their jobs held down.
Up With The Downside, Down With The Upside

In defense of managers who make weak, maddening non-decisions. Aug. 26. 2016 Other than accidentally spitting through a closed car window, there can be few things more frustrating than a manager who just won’t take a risk. Whether it’s a boss who won’t let you take a training course (what if you’re needed while you’re […]
Congratulations, You’re A Marine

Little Jimmy Smith joined the Marine Corps at age 19, and he was full of excitement. Imagine his surprise when he arrived at boot camp to find not people doing pushups, crawling through mud or stripping and reassembling rifles but instead, a large and well-lit room full of computers. “It’s the new way of training […]
Conflict Till The Last Trump

You can learn many things from watching a presidential race, not all of them political. The combination of high stakes and detailed media coverage surrounding the Republican race to the nomination, for example, allows you to view everyday office and workplace dynamics through the lens of a high-profile struggle that everyone can identify with. In […]
Rejection Man
Meet Rejection Man. Superman can fly. Batman has money. Spiderman can climb skyscrapers. These are their superpowers. But what, you ask, is the superpower for Rejection Man? Rejection. You’ll meet him – or her – in some workplaces. It’s the person who refuses to engage in any optional interaction. The one who walks out when […]
A Brief Explanation of MBTI Type
ISTJ: These letters in no way define you. They are based on bad science and charlatanism. Your fate is not written down anywhere. Do what excites you, and pursue the dreams you really want. ISFJ: These letters in no way define you. They are based on bad science and charlatanism. Your fate is not written […]
A Thought Experiment
“Imagination is more important than knowledge”. – Albert Einstein Let’s imagine that you take a staff climate survey of your organization, and discover that 80 percent of your people are unhappy. Unless you work in an industry where it literally makes no difference how unhappy or disconnected your staff is, you’d more than likely assume […]
Team Blood Pressure
High blood pressure has no symptoms. For many people, the first symptom of undiagnosed high blood pressure is a stroke or a heart attack. Work teams are no different. Sudden crises in a work team – an erupting conflict, say, or a nasty accusation that throws the group into chaos – are very often the […]