My husband John and I made our annual pilgrimage to a sacred rite of summer’s end…the Minnesota State Fair. We get there early and stay late, covering miles of fair territory and eating more food than is normal for two human beings. As is customary, we ambled through the cattle and horse barns, delighted by the napping Brown Swiss calf with his unbelievably long eyelashes, as well as the Scottish Highland, looking laid-back, his long shaggy hair blowing breezily in the wind. In the horse barn we saw “Cayenne,” a majestic though anxious horse standing uncomfortably in its stall, a Post It note warning “Do not pet. I bite.” I asked a woman sweeping near the stall about Cayenne and she told me that Cayenne simply does not like being at the fair. She pointed to a fresh new board in the back of the stall, sharing with me that Cayenne had just kicked the old board out yesterday. Cayenne’s handler, she added, doesn’t know what to do to make him comfortable. That word handler, got me thinking about the business environment. Being a self-admitted word geek, several years ago I had looked up the root of the word “manage.” Turns out, it comes from two Latin words, manus meaning “hand” and agere meaning “to act.” Manager and handler are eerily synonymous. While I’m fairly convinced but not absolutely sure that most animals don’t like being handled, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that most people do not. Being handled or managed often feels manipulative, which not so coincidentally bears the same Latin root, manus. With traditional forms of management, oftentimes, there lacks an inherent trust in another person’s ability to know, to self-govern, to set relevant goals, to perform, to excel. I suggest that all of this people “handling” is creating many of the issues that company leadership bemoans. Perceived lacks of initiative, slacking work style, disengagement, resistant behavior and other negative actions and attitudes may all be born of this dispiriting style of interaction. Many forms of management are still largely un-evolved. Still evident in today’s workplaces is a trace of the paradigm found in the horse and cattle barns. Stalls = cubicles; handler = manager; produce = produce. Hey business, it’s time to leave the barn. Our understanding of what inspires and stimulates human beings and evokes real potential is available and continuing to emerge. There is no reason to remain with these older styles of people management. They are, at their core, limiting and uninspired. Business leaders! Explore what is now available with regard to creating work environments that stimulate potential and engage people to the company and the work. Increasing...

  Companies, as an entity, emit a certain quality or energy. That particular quality is a product of the collective culture of the organization. Firmly within that collective is leadership, powerfully influencing and shaping both the culture and the quality it emits. Like a beacon or harbinger, this unnamed and largely unacknowledged quality broadcasts outward. Beyond carefully designed branding and/or PR, this quality is communicated through the interactions people of the company have with those outside of it. Vendors, customers, friends and family of employees, consultants and others are able to perceive a great deal about the company even tangentially. Like some kind of fascinating sonar, information is being transmitted. As humans, we are big energetic cue readers. We’ve needed it to get the group to 2015. It may seem like we are all communicating on a mostly verbal and visual dimension, but there is much more “communication” happening and much of it is soundless and sightless. This quality, that we are less aware of, is energetic. Try as we might, this is not a quality that takes its orders from marketing gurus, ad agencies or even the C level. For company leadership, this is a very important realization to get. The energetic quality of an organization will be transmitted. The pervasive cultural quality will echo forth. If there is a preponderance of dissent, corruption, confusion, discord, rancorous competition, anger, greed or mean-spiritedness, that’s the signal. If there is a prevalence towards care, fulfillment, supportiveness, openness, collegiality, happiness or the valuing of contribution, that will be the signal. Ask someone their thoughts about any given organization they interact with and they may or may not be able to articulate them. But, they will act and behave in accordance to them—articulated or not. Those actions and behaviors show up in the form of sales, customer loyalty, referrals, productivity, healthcare costs, new hires, attrition and many others. Human evolution has crafted some well-honed tools over the last 200,000 years. Not the least of which, is our ability to interpret energy. Regardless of ad campaigns, HR posters, PR spins or company mission statements, that channel of communication is open and operating on a very powerful frequency. It is imperative for leadership to tune in. Discover “8 Powerful Ways” you can affect and influence the energy your company emits. 8 Powerful Ways to Energize Your People...

  There are two phenomena which both vex and fascinate me. The first has to do with perception—how our perceptions of both ourselves and others can vary so dramatically depending on environment. The second dovetails off the first, but concerns the myopic focus that many companies place on revenue generation and profitability above all else…including people. Beginning with phenomenon one: All of us move from environment to environment through the course of our day. Depending where we are, we likely view ourselves and others differently. If we are at a coffee shop, our perception may be one way. If we are at a community function or at the grocery store, it may be another. So it continues in our home, with friends, with family, at the gym or in a place of worship. Depending on the environment, our perception of ourselves and those around us will vary to some degree. As you consider the varied environments you inhabit…home, community, nature, church, a friend or family members home…pay attention to your perception of yourself and the other people in those places. How do you feel when you are there? How do you feel about others when you are there? Next, turn to your workplace. What kinds of perceptions of yourself and others are happening at work? And, how do these perceptions affect you and your behavior? For many of us, the workplace evokes a singular quality. Our perceptions at work can be quite different from the perception we experience in the other environments in our lives. We tend to behave and view the world differently at work. With that our perception of self and others is also affected. Likely, this is a big part of the distinction that we convey through language when we refer to “work and life.” The two worlds simply feel different. I believe that this difference or schism is primarily due to the level of value associated with human beings and their contribution in the workplace. We have not yet deeply integrated human value into much of our work world. And, one of the primary reasons for this is the accepted ritual of honoring the value of money and money generation over that of human value. It’s upside down and most of us know it. Money and money generation is vital and commendable. However, it is the result of something. That something, more often than not, is the work force and their action. To honor the result and not that which has created it, is both shortsighted and un-evolved. The fact that this distortion continues baffles me. I’m reminded of the Wizard of Oz and the simple act of drawing back a curtain to see the...

  People 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 of business must be devoid of all but the barest traces of humanity…places where displays of care and compassion are viewed as weak or unseemly…environments where people are afraid to let their guard down for fear of some ego-generated retribution… where integrity or acts of kindness are considered not really that important… because after all, it’s business. Really? The law of the jungle is in need of a rewrite and a relocation program. Workplaces are not jungles, they are not war zones, they are not fields of competition. That’s old school illusion. They are (already for some) and can be (for all), places alive with healthy human interaction, creativity, expression, achievement, cooperation and fulfillment. Places where people are alive and connected. This newer workplace reality does not require rocket science, nor is it found in manuals, metrics or machines. It’s not a product of technology, nor a dispensation of advanced degrees. This reality is made manifest through the will, desire and intention of human beings. Human beings who want to live their lives more fully, who want to experience wellbeing and joy at work, who want more than the “same old, same old” and just good enough. Whether you know it or not, that may be you. Most of us have become inured to the discomfort, but if you look closely you’ll see it. You…me…we each have the ability and the power to transform business into a place and an experience where we get to shine and feel alive. It’s absolutely possible. The first step is simply one of awareness, of getting clear. From there, moving into intention, will and action. If at any time...

  Just 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 a race we want to be in. Over time, the opportunities for ‘independent’ inquiry and personal reflection are getting squeezed out. The second musing, is that our notion of independence may be more mythical than reality-based. Becoming independent of the ‘redcoats’ and political/religious persecution made great sense, but the idea of a more sweeping independence is misleading. Better perhaps to consider one’s independence of certain types of self-limiting dependence. In truth, most of us are at our best when we are interdependent or mutually reliant on one another. We are social beings after all. Goals, accomplishments and achievements may be experienced as an individual event, but if you look closely, you will find a network of support helping to make it happen. The United States was formed by an interdependent group of independent-thinking individuals. Both qualities were vital to the establishment of this miraculous event. Getting clear about the meaning of both of these words and their interconnectivity is important. So important, in fact, that the American Constitution begins with three  implicit words—we the people. The strength of your company is directly tied to the health and vitality of the company culture. When you strengthen the culture, you strengthen the company. Learn 6 steps you can take...

  Intellectualism, 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 as smart and capable? Other perceived ego threats are affected by financial concerns. Is my job and hence, my livelihood, safe? Is the company stable? Do I have a future here? Do I want a future here? Others have to do with people and relationships. Do I trust the people that work for me? Can I trust the people I work with? Is there someone that wants my job? While all of this can sound like the mad ravings of paranoia, the truth is ALL of us experience some amount of ego-based fear. If you are not aware of any type of ego-based fear, your suit of armor may be one of arrogance or detachment. The ego is part of being human and it has a job to do. Our job is to notice it, become familiar with the strategies it employs and get clear on whether or not these strategies are in service to our current experience of life and work. Additionally, companies can become places that render suits of armor unnecessary. Some effective ways to quiet security-seeking egos include: Building trust Actively conveying the company values, purpose, mission and vision Opening lines of communication Welcoming personal nuance and authenticity Inviting collaboration and collegial support Reframing mistakes into the learning opportunity they actually are Fostering a caring culture The survival ego is a useful instrument for keeping us alive, but not the best business tool. Creativity, innovation, constructive communication, teamwork and excellence are the products of a relaxed and secure ego…not one that’s constantly looking over its shoulder. The truth is, suits of armor are heavy and a pain to haul around the office....