My wonderful colleague, Karl, just introduced me to the acronym V.O..C.A. to summarize the challenges and culture that leaders are currently facing: Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic, and Ambiguous, this seems to sum it up well. The platform of focus and conversation has shifted in the past few years and it falls upon leadership to adapt, flex, and develop new skills to accommodate and support these challenges. I encourage you to see this landscape as an opportunity to learn mor

This is fascinating… I have always associated confirmation bias (CB) with a specific issue or topic which supports my point of view. Here is what I learned in an interview with Melina Palmer on Negotiate Anything. Melina is a behavioral economist, which means she studies how the brain makes decisions and thus affects our conversations and perspective. CB is at play all of the time, in every action, and in every relationship and interaction we have. Our brains have two disti

Many, many years ago I worked as a personal assistant, I did all sorts of things, one of which was wrapping my bosses’ family’s Christmas presents. I love wrapping, so I would meticulously fold the edges, adjust the tape so it was virtually invisible, and perfectly position the ribbon as a work of art. I remember marveling at my small colorful creations. I would proudly present my art and invariably was met with critiques, re-do’s, suggestions, and comments about how it was

A hummingbird flew into our house this weekend, it sought the highest window and kept trying over and over to get through the glass. Despite our encouragement, it was unsuccessful in penetrating the window. Little did it know that if it flew backward (the only bird that can do that) and looked in either direction, there were many open doors and windows beckoning for its release. This small bird was so determined and focused on his goal that he missed the many opportunities

Through the journey of great leadership, you will quickly find that learning the art of negotiation is non-negotiable. Anytime there is a conversation where one party wants something, it is a negotiation. Sometimes they are big, sometimes small, sometimes obvious, and many times subtle. One of my favorite podcasts and negotiators is Kwame Christian, in his latest episode with Lucia Kanter St. Amour they discuss how to best negotiate with a bully. Interestingly, this topic