Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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Always Expression Not Possession
One of the great myths of leadership is the belief that leadership resides in power, status, titles, and authority. Leadership resides in actions, messages, decisions, behaviors, and choices.
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Small Changes Create Momentum
When your goal is to reach 25 pushups, the smart path is to start with doing just two. When your goal is to organize your closet, the best path is to start with just your pants. When your goal is to change your team meetings, it is a good idea to begin by first changing…
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The Gray Way to Better Decisions
Black and white thinking can appear decisive but often results in poor decisions and choices. Thinking in gray allows leaders to explore all the options and the implications and unintended consequences associated with a decision. As anthropologist Ruth Benedict wisely pointed out, “The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer, it’s that there…
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The Real Value of Compliments
How should a leader receive a compliment? Compliments are easier to accept when you remember they are more about the person giving them than the person receiving them. You read that right. When others offer a compliment, they implicitly say, “I am the kind of person who notices your praise-worthiness, who sees excellence and good…
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Push Harder
When you next sit down to craft your personal plan and vision and to set some long-term goals, I want you to think of Paul McCartney. Yes, that Paul McCartney. Considered one of the best bass players in the history of rock and roll, what he has accomplished in one lifetime is truly inspiring. McCartney…
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A Recipe for Mediocrity
Sir Patrick Stewart began his pathway toward theatrical stardom when his acting teacher said his strategy would never lead him to success. The strategy? Ensuring against failure. Stewart admits he didn’t take chances. Instead, he convinced himself that playing it safe was the best way to forge a successful career. It wasn’t until he was…
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The Fog That Shrouds Decisions
Too much emotion can blur a situation, a conversation or a dialogue. This is especially important when it comes to making critical decisions. Emotions are like a fog shrouding a decision-making process. In a heightened emotional state, people are unable to see, think or interpret clearly. It’s a lesson we know, but oft forget. Whenever…
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Where the Struggle Ends
Research on positive psychology and wellbeing confirms that expressing gratitude amplifies happiness. The writer Neale Donald Walsch said something profound: “The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.”
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‘I Don’t Belong Here’
Muhammad Ali fought exclusively upright for over a decade before his nemesis, Joe Frazier, finally knocked him down in the 15th round of their famous fight at Madison Square Garden in 1971. By the time he hit the ground, Ali was behind on points and unlikely to win the match. Instead of staying down, Ali struggled…
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Get the Turkeys Out of Your Life
At the end of their careers, many highly successful leaders describe surrounding themselves with good, talented, quality people as the key to their success. If we are to achieve great things in life and in business, they tell us, we need to “collect” people who are better than we are. People of good character and…