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Are you orange, mate?

Posted on 19. Jan, 2012 by in Blog, Orange

On the elevator at the Indianapolis Marriott a group of young Brits gave me an appraising glance. “Are you orange, mate?” one fellow asked. Come again? I soon found out, at the ExactTarget Sales and Services Kickoff meeting, that was a standard greeting as employees from around the world attempted to identify their own. This [...]

Giving in, listening and 2 other ways to build engagement

Posted on 17. Jan, 2012 by in Blog, Orange

In one of his first meetings with new employees, Scott O’Neil, president of Madison Square Garden in New York City, asks, “Where do you want to be five years from now?” He then explains he’ll make a commitment to help the person achieve their dream … but only if they commit to giving their very [...]

A better place to start the year

Posted on 03. Jan, 2012 by in Blog, Orange

A few weeks ago Greg Link sent me a galley copy of his new book with Stephen M. R. Covey called Smart Trust (to publish Jan. 10, 2012, from Free Press). As a fan of Covey’s previous book The Speed of Trust, I read this excellent new work over the holidays. In the book, PepsiCo’s [...]

How to fix a broken culture

Posted on 05. Dec, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

When you think of the Home Shopping Network (HSN), what comes to mind? Maybe Thighmasters and cubic zirconia? A few years ago, perhaps, but not now, thanks to CEO Mindy Grossman, who wrote a great feature in this month’s Harvard Business Review. Grossman came to HSN in 2006 at a time when the channel had [...]

Overcoming ‘restless entitlement syndrome’ in young workers

Posted on 21. Nov, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

A colleague at an energy company recently told me about his team. “Half of them are young and have what I call restless entitlement syndrome. They think, I’ve been to college, and I need to be a manager now. Not in five or ten years, but by December.” While I hate to stereotype an entire [...]

Bad Moods at Work = Bad Moods in Your Kids

Posted on 09. Nov, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

Having a tough day at work? According to the Harvard Business Review, if you take a bad mood home with you it can rub off on your kids. It turns out that kids’ sense of well-being is most affected by their working parent’s moods at the end of the day, at least that’s according to [...]

Teapot Candor

Posted on 28. Oct, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

I was sitting in the back of the room yesterday at a Proctor & Gamble leadership training session listening to Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, who spoke before me. He believes when a culture tries to keep the truth in, when workplaces are too nice and don’t have honest discussions, it’s frustrating and dangerously [...]

Tell your team they’re losing … just a little

Posted on 10. Oct, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

Some great new research in this month’s Harvard Business Review on motivating a team. Wharton professor Jonah Berger told subjects they were competing with a person in another room to see who could type the fastest. After one round he told subjects that they were either far behind, slightly behind, tied, or slightly ahead. Only [...]

The After-Dinner Man

Posted on 20. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

Fifty years ago, most people worked hard until five or six and then went home to their families, friends and hobbies. Business people who brought work home with them were the butt of jokes—they were workaholics or those inefficient souls who couldn’t get their work done in eight hours. The term “the after-dinner man” emerged [...]

Clubhouse dynamics

Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, Orange

Any baseball manager worth his salt knows clubhouse chemistry is important. A positive atmosphere helps teams get through the inevitable rough streaks in a season, and especially in a run to the playoffs. As an anonymous Major League Baseball player wrote in a recent column in ESPN The Magazine, “Any group of people will have [...]

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