The year was 1623. About half of the Plymouth colony died that year. And while the community was about ready to head into another difficult winter, recent fall rains ended what was a challenging and persistent drought. So Governor William Bradford called a gathering – a three-hour “staff meeting” of sorts. The main purpose of […]
Continue ReadingImproving Leadership; Reducing Stress — Oct 2022
People are fried. The last two-and-a-half years have thrown curve ball after curve ball at us, with a potpourri of challenges: the pandemic, staffing shortages, continued supply chain issues, shifting workforce needs and work environments, inflation and emerging other economic issues, a polarized political climate, among other things. What many of us hoped would be […]
Continue ReadingSustaining American Greatness: Communities of Excellence 2026 — Sept 2022
America faces great challenges as we approach the year 2026, the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Communities across our country have struggled to confront systemic problems such as educational disparities, deteriorating public health, and inequities in economic opportunity and quality of life. Moreover, efforts to address these and other critical issues are often carried […]
Continue ReadingThings I Forgot from Kindergarten: 61 Insights for Better Leadership, Better Living – Aug 2022
As summer winds down and schools begin to resume, I was reminded of the book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum. It was written nearly 40 years ago (my, how time flies), but had instant popularity and is still relevant today. Consider some of these gems: Share everything. […]
Continue ReadingNew Leadership in the New Environment: 37 Ideas to Improve Leadership Effectiveness — July 2022
Disruption/noun: disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process; radical change to an existing industry or market. The last couple of years have been filled with disruptions to our “normal” way of doing business: the pandemic, staffing shortages, supply chain challenges, shifts in work environments and workforce preferences, and now inflation and other […]
Continue Reading26 Lessons from Mobilizing a Civilian War Response in Ukraine – June 2022
There are a million topics I could have chosen to explore this month. But as we approach the Fourth of July and our country’s annual reflection on what it means to be a democratic republic, I’d like to share some insights from another democratic republic, Ukraine – a country that is entering its fifth month […]
Continue ReadingCharting the Course Forward: Insights from PENworks 2022 – May 2022
It’s been an incredible last couple of years. The convergence of so many historic events (the pandemic, staffing shortages, supply chain issues) have put considerable pressure on our organizations, our communities, and on us as leaders and professionals. But we’ve all learned a great deal. We’ve learned more about agility and the need to quickly […]
Continue ReadingPerformance Excellence Network Recognizes Two with Award
2021 Performance Excellence Awards Presented at PENworks 2022 Conference ST. PAUL, Minn., May 16, 2022 – The Performance Excellence Network (PEN) honors two recipients of the 2021 Performance Excellence Award. The Award is based on the Baldrige Framework and is the culmination of a rigorous evaluation of an organization’s management and performance system. The evaluation […]
Continue ReadingLove them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary — Apr 2022
Minneapolis is a great place to live — great outdoor attractions and park system, a world class theater scene, all major sports, higher than average income and population health outcomes, world class educational institutions, a vibrant business community. I could probably go on. But the last couple of years have been extremely difficult for the […]
Continue ReadingLessons in Extraordinary Leadership: Shackleton and Zelenskyy – Mar 2022
Much has been written about the extraordinary leadership displayed by the explorer Ernest Shackleton; not as much has been written yet about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy (but certainly will be over time). The Shackleton story took place over a 100 years ago; the Zelenskyy story literally is being written as we speak. Both stories were […]
Continue Reading