Welcome to Momentum’s Blog & Media page. This is the place where we share the information most aligned to our Mission. Whether it’s something we have created or the keen ideas of a collegial thought leader, this is where we provide insight and inspiration for people in business.
Enjoy!
A friend of mine who is a long time territory rep recently had a first meeting with his newly assigned sales manager. The new manager opened up the conversation with these words “My goal this year is to keep you from quitting your job.” After years of corporate-speak from leadership, this statement about knocked him off his seat. As a top producer who has been largely irritated with the way the company has been managed for many years, this statement felt like fresh air. I was amazed by the potency of that one line. My friend has become cynical over the years, his tolerance for BS is low. There was something about the candor and concern of that statement that broke through. Believe me, those protective walls had become mighty thick and mighty tall. This new guy, in an unabashed and sincere way successfully scaled them. Once he was in, they were able to put their heads together and collaboratively create ways to generate more business. That is the power of true leadership....
read moreThere’s a lot of talk about the character type ‘bully’ these days. If you are American and have working eyes and/or ears, it’s likely you’ve seen and/or heard references to that word of late. Because we all marinate in a cultural stewpot to some degree, aspects of one area of life tend to infuse into others. And so it is with this word ‘bully.’ I’m going to be frank, I don’t care for the word bully or what it stands for. In business, I’ve seen and worked with bully types. Never did I find the experience to be constructive or productive. Those of us who were interacting with the ‘bully’ spent way too much time reacting, posturing, cowering, pushing back—and way too little time actually working the task at hand. More than anything else, I noticed this trait jazzed up the energy, but primarily in response to the trait. Rarely, if ever, in service to a goal. Here’s the other thing…I have at times acted like a bully myself. I’m not proud of it...
read moreLast Wednesday it was my great good fortune to attend a truly enjoyable networking event. As you may have read in an earlier blog, I have harbored a distaste for what I would call starchy or shark-tank-esque networking experiences. Yes, I’ve held unseemly judgment there and I’m not proud of that. This recent event, however, reframed the whole networking experience for me and pointed to a potential I hadn’t ever imagined—networking that’s fun, friendly, sincere, thought-provoking, collaborative and also, geared for business building and revenue generation. Who knew?! While there, I had a refreshing conversation with the event’s organizer and we got to talking about the word ‘success.’ As we both live and breathe the world of transformational leadership and business, success is a word we hear a lot. A lot. And, yes, it’s the big ‘go to’ word for companies and their leadership. Success this, success that. Or, in the case of individuals ’I want to be successful.’ But, here’s the thing about that word, it’s really more of a desire holder than...
read moreEveryone has a different purpose for doing business. For some the mission that fuels the work is to launch an invention or new concept. For others it is about producing or supplying a needed product or service. For others it is strictly about making money. The list goes on and on. For many, it’s a combination of several factors. It all depends on the person, their experience, motivation, philosophy, desire. The truth is that we all possess our own lens and perception…about everything. There are no two people that see eye-to-eye right down the line. How could we? Not one of us share the same DNA and life experiences with any other person on the planet. We are each completely unique. The idea that we look at the world differently is no big surprise. The fact that there is so much alignment between folks is the more interesting piece for me. When you’re able to remove the chaff from the core, the ego from the heart, it’s amazing how closely we come together. There...
read moreMy family is mostly a very mind-based group. We’re thinkers, debaters, studiers, researchers, contemplators, and analyzers. The brain is perceived by the gang as a highly touted bodily instrument, prized for its capacity and used a lot. Mental acuity is also employed as a kind of measuring stick—academic achievement praised, advanced degrees lauded. Likely due to this intellectual adoration, being right and having the right answer is not only a source of deep pride, but at times it can feel like a necessity for one’s ego. It was quite a shock to me when I learned that we were such a mind-based tribe. Moreover, that a good deal of our intellectual bluster tends to be connected to unrecognized fear and the need for control. Suddenly, I began to look at our head-oriented behavior in a very new way. Of course, I still have great regard for the instrument itself. But, now more clearly recognize its limitations, how it can be a go-to ego-survival tool, a way to posture oneself against this vast world of...
read moreFor years…or more accurately, decades, I’ve noodled the concept of ‘special.’ It seems most of us share a deep desire to both be seen as special and to fit in. In some ways, that can seem almost contradictory. But, it seems to work itself out most of the time. As a business coach/consultant/trainer/adviser, I see these needs show up often—in both leaders and their people. People long for a sense of being seen as singular in their skill, their competency, their contribution and also a longing to be one with the group. I find that companies that recognize these two essential human needs and work with them in a conscious way do better. Before anybody is tempted to mock the idea with a disparaging reference to the “everyone’s a winner!” campaign, I offer the following. Recognizing someone as special is not about a badge or canned moniker. It’s about looking someone in the eyes and sincerely saying ‘nice job’ when they do a nice job. It’s being aware and recognizing when someone goes above...
read moreBusiness seems too often to be given a pass when it comes to human behavior. Once a week hundreds of thousands of people gather to espouse their faith and gather in fellowship. They listen to stories of good deeds, kindness and compassion, experience the warmth of relationship and caring support and likely feel a sense of peace and joy. Then, on Monday they return to work, which in many cases offers up a very different type of experience. Good deeds, kindness, compassion, warm relationships, caring support, the feeling of peace and joy. Poof! Gone. And, somehow, this all seems to work…at work. Or, does it? I don’t believe it does work. What I do believe is that much of our current business consciousness is akin to an old massive trunk of archaic mindsets, paradigms and jungle mentality that we keep dragging into the future. What worked for the Industrial Age does not work now. In fact, it hasn’t worked for over a century. But, like all things caught in a tenacious institutional vice grip,...
read moreThe simultaneous and ongoing initiatives, projects and objectives within any company are ever-growing. Add to that, the vast amounts of data that is produced and consumed during this inexhaustible information age. Information is useful, but the proliferation of information can quickly become massive and weighty. In addition, many of the tools designed to lighten loads and provide aid can end up becoming another level of heft and frustration. There is little doubt that our keen human brain, intent on mental toys to play with, is a key player in this mounting complexity. Add to that, the deeply held hope that somewhere out there lies the quick fix, the magic pill, the miracle elixir. This primal combination has the power to be a remarkable chaos creator. The quiet yet persistent call of “next,” “new” or “must have” can be captivating, but as often, adds to the complexity heap. In business as in life, we are in deep need of an about face. We need: more trust and less worry more simplicity and less complexity...
read moreRecently, I was talking with a friend of mine who owns his own business. For the most part, he’s happy with the way things are going. His people have been with him for a long time and the processes they’ve created run smoothly. The company’s revenue and profitability are good and he has a sizable group of loyal clients. The one thing, however, that he really wants to change are the company’s goal setting practices. That, he feels, has been a weak muscle and one he’d like to start building. His instinct to incorporate more clear and focused goal setting practices into the company is a good one. Goal setting and action planning are key to a company moving in an intentional direction. Proactive goal setting, though, requires an all important ‘pre’ activity. That ‘pre’ activity is the time and attention required to get clear on where you are now and where you want to go. This is not a step you want to skim over. In most cases, this step unleashes the energetic...
read moreTrue leadership development is essentially code for stepping into one’s own human potential. It is so much more than running a good company, making wise strategic decisions or inspiring people to follow. Those are the external manifestations of a good leader. It’s the internal manifestations—one’s personal evolvement and maturation that inform the action and behavior of a person as leader. That is the core differentiator between lackluster, good and great. In our culture, we have become so mesmerized by the external symbols and trappings of what we currently perceive to be ‘successful’ leadership, that we may have disconnected from the deeper truths of what it means to be a great leader. Yes, financial generation is tremendously important in the business sector, but what about those internal human attributes that characterize a person of note. A person we can look to and witness integrity, fairness, hopefulness, courage and compassion. In this chaotic world, that is becoming more critical in a leader, not less so. As social animals, we need each other to survive…whether we...
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