Tag Archives: challenges

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Band-Aids and EASY Buttons -Or- SOLUTIONS?

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An owner of a couple of small businesses is frustrated with dwindling profits.

He blames his staff, treats them badly, moves them to different locations, stalls their vacations and refuses to listen to their feedback.

The truth is:

  • He has been an absentee owner that has happily collected profits from the businesses while choosing not to be involved in day-to-day operations.
  • He hasn’t trained his employees or empowered them to make decisions.
  • He has not been engaged with his customers and doesn’t know what they value.
  • He hasn’t been proactive about growing his businesses or even keeping up with his competitors.
  • His prices are higher than the competition and his facilities are cramped, cluttered, outdated, and equipped with poor quality equipment and tools.
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Blowing Up: Boxes, Typecasting & Limits

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Blowing up labels and limits

Have you ever had someone make assumptions about you?

I despise boxes….  And typecasting….  And limits…  And then I realized I was holding some assumptions that were putting others in boxes.  Ugh!

…A couple of years ago, I volunteered to help out at a Career Fair.  Early in the day, several vans arrived from Goodwill’s Training Program.

As the room filled with people several things blew my boxes of assumptions apart:

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When your leadership focus is derailed by a …. Squirrel!

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Have you ever seen the movie Up?  In the movie there is a talking dog that chatters away until he sees a squirrel. Instantly all other conversations and thoughts cease and he yelps “Squirrel” and turns his head to watch the squirrel.

[Tweet “Have you ever been distracted by a squirrel? “]

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When your greatest struggle collides with your greatest gift…

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Do you know any person or organization that is in the midst of their most significant struggle – ever?

Would it help you get through the struggle if you knew that it was necessary to unleash your greatest strength?

There is a pattern throughout history that fills me with so much hope that it almost makes me wish for a big struggle…

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Is it Good to Be a FIRST? Or Is it a Judgment?

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The Power of FirstsAs a society we tend to label and categorize everything into the smallest, tiniest little box so it seems more clearly defined but is it always necessary?  We always want to clarify with adjectives, adverbs and descriptors so there is no margin for error in what we are talking about.

The Power of Firsts
  1. Does it help us to visualize better?
  2. Or does it hold more negative connotations instead of creating equality? Is it a form of discrimination?
  3. Will it call attention to and single out individuals as more of a minority status? How can this be kind?

About a month ago I got a note from Jane Perdue with an invitation to write a guest post for her blog with these questions as thought starters…

Do you ever wonder what women, men and society need to do so that…

  1. Women and persons of color are designated as a doctor, not “a woman doctor;” as a scientist, not “a Latino scientist,” etc.?
  2. Special designations aren’t needed in announcements, e.g.:  the first woman to lead the federal reserve, the first female best director Academy Award winner, the first African American female flight crew, etc.?

I struggled with this topic for a month. I was so torn but my heart and most recent experiences led me to a very eye opening conclusion. One you may be surprised by.

Read more at: Braithwaite Innovation Group Why our world needs FIRSTS – LeadBIG