Posts Tagged ‘planning’
Mark Cole: Preparation Positions Your Talent
What happens when you don’t prepare? Take a minute to think about it—and be honest with yourself. In my leadership, the results of being unprepared are predictable. Things I hoped wouldn’t happen do happen—and occur with greater frequency than the things I hoped would happen. The reason is simple: being unprepared puts me out of…
Read MoreIT’S STILL THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR
What is your favorite time of year? Is it Christmas? Is it when you celebrate your birthday? Or when flowers bloom in the spring? Maybe it’s your summer vacation. Or when the children go back to school. Or the beginning of football season. Or when the leaves change. When is it? I can tell you…
Read MoreGreat words on goal-setting
As we approach the end of January, a time when you might begin to feel discouraged about lack of progress toward your New Year’s Resolutions, I’d like to share some of my favorite quotes on goals and planning. If we want to succeed with our resolutions, we need to make them measurable and attainable. Breaking…
Read MoreLook Back to Plan Forward
Happy New Year! What did you do to welcome 2015? Throw a party? Toast at midnight? Spend time reflecting on the past year and creating a plan for making the most of the new one? Researchers have discovered that transitional times (like the new year, or the beginning of a season) naturally motivate us as…
Read MoreTransition: Managing the “Ins and Outs” of Leadership
I am often asked how to successfully manage leadership transition within an organization. How do you end well? Or conversely, how do you start off on the right foot? My friend, Bob Russell, has written an excellent book, Transition Plan, on the successful leadership changeover following his 40-year tenure at Southeast Community Church in Louisville,…
Read MoreDo You Remember the Time?
“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.” ~ Cicero What memories does Christmas bring to your mind? Perhaps you remember the excitement of waking up on Christmas morning to find a pile of presents under the tree. Maybe you recall sledding, snowball fights, or sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace. You may even…
Read MoreStrategic Leaders Look Further Ahead
America seems to be waking up to its weight problem. Popular reality television shows Biggest Loser and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution inspire viewers to shed pounds, or better yet, to avoid putting them on in the first place. Bestselling books, Eat This, Not That! and Cook This, Not That! teach readers how to order and…
Read MorePrinciple-Centered Planning: Part 1
If you’ve ever gone whitewater rafting, then you know the importance of planning. Whenever the raft approaches rapids, the guide has to plan the best route to navigate safely through them. If the guide fails to plan, then the raft can easily smash into a rock or capsize. Four Types of Planning Passive planning happens…
Read MoreWhen Plans Don’t Go According to the Script, Keep Planning
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower As Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower planned, coordinated, and carried out the largest amphibious assault ever undertaken – the Invasion of Normandy. Historians regard him…
Read MoreLeaders Cannot Afford to Neglect Planning
“Good planning always costs less than good reacting.” ~ Wayne Schmidt In October 2010 the most expensive public works project in America, ARC, officially met its demise. The project would have constructed two tunnels beneath the Hudson River to add much-needed railways between New Jersey and Manhattan. However, poor planning led to wasteful spending and…
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