Message Sent ≠ Message Received! — I do some work with a non-profit which helps kids 16–24 get back on track in life (YouthBuild, more specifically, YouthBuild North Central). Primarily they work on getting their high school equivalency diploma, drivers license, some work certifications, etc. …

Want to stay on top? Better start changing things! — Two years ago, I gave a season kick-off speech for a high school baseball team (is it still a kick-off speech for a baseball team?). I spoke mostly about how great teamwork builds from communication, respect, and trust. …

Are you just going to let it happen? — I love basketball. I love playing it, I love watching it, and I love coaching it. My coaching efforts have all been at the youth-level. Where I coached (in West Virginia), we call it the Jerry West League out of respect for The Logo, a native. …

Want performance feedback to work? Build a relationship! — Performance feedback is a topic of great personal interest to me. I spend a great deal of time reading and thinking about it. I’ve also written about it repeatedly in other forums (LinkedIn, booklet on Amazon). In my leadership practice, it’s hands-down my favorite topic to discuss. The reason I…

Make it meaningful. — Following on from yesterday’s leadership moment and my oldest daughter’s first performance evaluation, I continued to think about our conversation. She definitely liked what the boss wrote but also realized there was some fluff in there. As we talked, I suggested she keep a copy as it would be a…

Attitude + Effort = Success! — My daughter called me late this afternoon in a great mood. She’d just received her first performance review at her job and earned stellar marks. Of course I’m a proud dad but that aside, I wasn’t surprised. She brings a positive upbeat attitude and her best effort to work every…

Learning what’s wrong is just as important.. — Jake Wilder is an excellent writer here on Medium and I enjoy his work. His recent article called No One’s Motivated by Negative Feedback started me thinking and inspired me to write this complementary piece. Wilder wrote his piece to help leaders foster a culture of growth, innovation, and creativity…

Grow your people, grow your company! — Recently an old friend (seriously, the guy just turned 52, like me!) asked me about changing how his organization does performance appraisals. They had a system where performance was ranked on a scale of 1–5 but he wasn’t happy with it and wanted to try something different. Let’s call my…

Leaders need to make performance feedback a priority! — The status quo isn’t good enough if you want to get to excellent. There are a select few people out there with that unerring internal compass that guides them to greatness. For the other 99.998% of us, external feedback is immensely helpful for us to get better. If you read…

Purpose is the key. — Several years ago when my two sons were in elementary school, we formed the Secret Ice Cream Club. Their cousin was the same age so of course he became a member as well. The first rule of the Secret Ice Cream Club? …

Find common purpose, then adjust performance. — As a cadet at West Point, I was taught we were joining the profession of arms. As a member of a profession, you have the duty to police your own ranks. This means when you see someone acting unprofessionally, it’s your obligation to say something, to provide them feedback. …