FieldNotes
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.
Search Field Notes
-
Never Walk Past a Mistake
For great leaders, standards of quality matter. Standards help to define people, teams and organizations. Former Senator Bob Kerrey suggests that, “If you walk by something that is substandard, and you do nothing, it becomes the new standard.” When we think about that statement for a moment, it makes perfect sense. Standards are what we
-
Do Not Touch the Instrument
In music, we describe a long line of virtuosos from the same family as talent passed down from generation to generation. It’s in their DNA. But even innate talent needs a little help. One family of world-class mandolin players has watched this kind of talent blossom over and over again. The patriarch of the family
-
What to Do When You Make a Bad Decision
The only thing more depressing than a tough situation is the failed efforts of a leader who makes them worse with a second bad call.
-
Can You Give Me an Example?
Examples and illustrations are powerful tools to broaden and deepen learning.
-
How to Stop the Seduction of Your Best Clients
Acquiring a new customer or client takes much more work and effort than maintaining the relationship with an existing one.
-
How to Make a Crisis Even Worse
Remember that, no matter how horrible the incident, it is your response that defines who you are as a leader.
-
Start With the Hard Part
If you want to make more progress when mastering a difficult process, game, or activity, consider practicing the hardest part first.
-
A Leader Who Pays Attention Can Ask This Kind of Question
Great leaders are said to have a “facilitative mindset.”
-
Leadership Notes From Way Underground
In 2010, a collapse at the San Jose copper-gold mine in northern Chile trapped 33 men 2,300 feet underground for 69 days.
-
The Magical Way to Improve Your Team’s Customer Focus
Is it any wonder, then, that the best customer-focused leaders treat their employees exactly as they want them to treat their best customers and clients?