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!
Every week I write a blog. This is a relatively new habit for me, and one that I resisted for a long time. The idea of a time-based writing discipline danced too closely to the concept of “term paper”—the writing of which I tended to dread and put off unduly during my school years. Scheduled acts of writing, powerfully hinged to the notorious term paper of old, set off a battleground of opposing wills. My calendar pointing heartlessly to the writing assignment and my defiant memory-steeped mind cleverly finding inconsequential activities to block that very task getting done…or even started. So it went, until one day something shifted. On that particular day, my desire to share ideas and connect with people swamped the “term paper” voodoo and suddenly writing—even scheduled writing—became a fascinating and joyful adventure. Just like that. Two realizations about this event emerged for me. First, the fact that long-standing behaviors and entrenched attitudes can change in a moment. While I intellectually accept and espouse the concept, it’s always remarkable to...
read morePeople often ask me what I do, what my company does. Good questions both, and ones that I have wanted to answer with a simple, one sentence response for a long time. The notion of an easily digestible “elevator speech” or USP has always appealed. And yet, the discovery of this snack-able sound bite has thus far eluded me. Which makes the invitation of this blog’s white space very appealing. Move over USP. My work, my mission and my company are all focused on helping workplaces come to life and thrive. To become places alive with energy and contribution. Environments where people feel secure enough for egos to calm and authenticity to come forward, relationships to deepen, support to emerge and human potential to arise. They all go hand in hand—always available and awaiting the invitation. We tend to spend too much time and energy clinging to our old paradigms as if they were the truth. The painful, yet seemingly ingrained idea, of work as unhappy struggle. Or the mistaken notion that places...
read moreInformation was once akin to gold in perceived human value. Carved in stone or hand written on papyrus, it was vigilantly protected and viewed only by those at the highest levels of society. These days, information has shrugged off its ermine robes and lies closer in rank to corn. No longer an elite treasure, it’s more a commonplace commodity. Available easily, endlessly, any time of day or night. It seems that when one thing transitions out of treasure status, something new is sure to take its place. I’ve thought a lot about what the ‘new’ replacement may be and have narrowed in on two strong possibilities. The first is attention. Now, attention may seem like a funny choice—with all the social media and communication channels out there, attention would seem to be prolific. Chatter is prolific, immediacy is prolific, scanning is prolific, but focused attention, not so prolific. We are rapidly becoming the one to three second surveyors. Never mind the one-minute manager…who has that kind of time on their hands? Our ability...
read moreAs a culture we are in love with the idea of the “hero.” The self-made, pulled-up-by-the-bootstraps, invincible, fiercely independent conceptual ideal that has established a deeply rooted place of exaltation for centuries. I get it. I love John Wayne movies, too. But the truth is, John Wayne characters (even those based on actual people) are an illusion based on our cultural ideal of a hero. That is not to deny heroism—heroic acts are real and happening. Everyday, people are actualizing amazing deeds and achievements. The fallacy is in believing that the “hero” archetype is real. Every one of us has been to a greater or lesser degree, affected by the people around us. That is inescapable. In addition, we are born into environments that have been crafted and built by people over eons of time. Most Americans are born into a team of caregivers and let’s not forget the person who spent nine months of her life creating us. From there, we come into contact with one person after another—shaping us, lifting us, challenging...
read moreJust prior to the Fourth of July weekend, a colleague and I were discussing the word ‘independence’—what it may have meant to the framers of the Constitution and what it currently means to the two of us. It was an interesting conversation and it generated a couple of insightful musings. The first of these, was that while the American ideal proclaims independence as our cultural legacy and birthright, is it possible we Americans are becoming more dependent each and every year? Dependent on things like smart phones or busy calendars, prescription drugs or prescribed containers of thinking…liberal or conservative; traditionalist or evolutionary; male or female; young or old. Our fast-paced world can give rise to a sense of stress, persistent urgency or overwhelm. Many of us feel we don’t have the time, energy or knowhow to step back and appraise our own situation from a different perspective. The race is on and we’re in it. It can feel like there is little time left over to assess whether or not this is even...
read moreAh, change. The word that gets bandied about all circles of life and work as if it were some distinct event you could simply point to. In both business and life, the idea of change can lead to all sorts of responses, some eager and enthusiastic, others anxious and fearful. But, with all the current discussion about the word “change” I think we miss a very obvious truth–continuous change is the unavoidable nature of everything here on Earth. Change, whether physical or temporal, is constantly and steadily occurring whether we wish it or not. Therefore, experiential states such as status quo or stasis, in reality, are not even possible. The question then becomes, is the change that’s occurring one that is desired or not? If change is a naturally occurring and ever present phenomenon, how important is choice to the process? I would suggest it is mightily important. Choice is the voluntary component here, not change. Choice is where we have the power to influence and guide change. Change is the canvas, choice...
read moreIntellectualism, elitism, arrogance, anger, domination, detachment…these can be personal strategies or “suits of armor” found in places of business. Because they tend to be worn unconsciously, people are generally not aware that they are wearing this particular “suit” nor that it has been designed specifically for the workplace. As the name implies, suits of armor are created for safety. Their purpose–to keep the person protected. Business environments are usually physically safe for people, but oftentimes considered unsafe for the ego. Our egos are highly industrious and take their mission of keeping us out of harm’s way very seriously. They are also extremely vigilant and on 24 hour watch. Perceived threats of any kind are to be, to use a military term, actively neutralized. So what are some of the threats common to the ego in the workplace? Some of the most powerful have to do with our sense of self. Am I smart and capable enough? Am I smarter and more capable than my colleagues? Or less so? Am I perceived by others...
read moreOkay, this is unthinkable, brazenly un-American and oh, so very not twenty-first century of me, but I am dedicating this blog to less. Yes, you read correctly—LESS. While the notion of “less” goes against everything we grew up learning and wanting, I think it’s a concept worth considering. Over the last half of a century, life and work have become really busy. You notice that? So busy, in fact, that people are losing their ability to “not be busy.” The idea of even the briefest moment of quietude, inaction, genuine relaxation or anything else that smacks of stillness is becoming a lost art. For some, even more than that—it is something to be avoided at all cost. An equally distressing realization is that a fair amount of this “busy-ness” is not in true service to much of anything. It’s time filler. It’s the antidote to quiet—to letting the body and mind rest for a moment. In business, the percentage of time dedicated to busy-ness can be startling. Most of us have become so...
read moreOne of my greatest frustrations while working for various organizations, was the existence of the Management Mill. You know the Management Mill. It’s based on the concept that if you do your current job really well, you get to move into people management. For example, the remarkable salesperson who is great at working independently and imbuing a “take no prisoners” attitude. Or the extraordinary analyst who can find elegant patterns hidden in numbers and data. Because of their ability to do their current job so well, the theory goes, they will be fine managers of people. Okay, I’m going to state this emphatically—that theory is seriously flawed. It’s the kind of business practice that could benefit from an honest re-examination and refresh. The role of people management in many companies is simply a way station on the road to C Suite. Whether a person is right for the job matters less than the next opportunity down the pike. This is, in my humble opinion, a mistake of echoing and expanding proportion. Don’t get...
read moreTake a look at this list of words…. satisfying enjoyable interesting gratifying fulfilling enriching fun What if those were the words that best described your experience of being at work? Sound crazy? For some, this may already be happening. They like what they do. They like the people with whom they work. They feel good about being there. For others, the idea of those words being used to describe their job feels almost unfathomable. Like work? Are you kidding? No. I’m definitely not kidding. And yes, it’s possible to work for a company where good stuff happens. Where people receive more than a paycheck and benefits. Where they enjoy supportive relationships, an environment that invites and strengthens integrity. Work that expands their skills: a place where people actually get to grow as human beings. What a concept. If you are leading a company, working for a company or interviewing at a company, I want you to really take this in…over the course of your life, you are going to spend around 110,000 hours...
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