Leadership Insights
from the Untangle Doctor®
Blog Post Archive
- AIG 1
- Captain Sullenberger 1
- Hush Hush Tangle 1
- Introduction 1
- Jangle Tangle 1
- Lominger 1
- Marcia Ruben 1
- Meg Wheatley 1
- Strangling Tangle 2
- Tangle 1
- Twitter 1
- VUCA 17
- accountability 1
- adult development 1
- air cover 1
- ambiguity 1
- anger 1
- assessment 2
- backbiting 1
- blame 1
- brain based leadership 2
- cascade tangle 1
- catastrophize 1
- change management 1
- chaos 1
- coach qualifications 1
- collaboration 7
- commitment 2
- communication 4
- competence 3
- complexity 3
- conflict 1
- conflict resolution 1
- consultant qualifications 1
- corporate gridlock 1
- courage 4
- crisis 1
- crooked triangle 1
- culture 6
- decision making 2
- emotional contagion 1
- emotional intelligence 5
- emotions 4
- empathy 2
- empowerment 1
- ethics 4
- executive coach 3
- executive coaching 5
- executive leadership 11
- executive leadership coach 4
Building Trust During Merger Integrations
According to a November 2008 McKinsey study, 22% of over 1400 executives from a cross-section of industries, geographies, and functional areas anticipate that they will be seeking merger and acquisition opportunities. That is, those companies that are still in fairly good financial shape will take advantage of opportunities to purchase complimentary companies at a lower price than usual.
When times are tough, it is human nature to batten down the hatches. However, when business is reduced to just a set of metrics and numbers without consideration to the human side of business, growth and productivity are unintentionally squelched. Several years ago some colleagues and I were making a sales pitch to the CEO of a large chemical manufacturing company set to make major large-scale change. We argued that there was a need to manage the human side of the change in order to get the desired return on investment. The CEO remarked that his employees would just have to "get over it." Fortunately, we were able to persuade the CEO and CFO that they could not afford to be distracted by employees who were not on board and aligned with the desired changes.
Five Tips for Leading Through VUCA
It's official. The United States is in a recession, and has been for a year, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. And for many I have spoken to, this recession feels very different from past ones. I believe that the difference is the level of VUCA, or volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Regular readers of my blog know that I have posted a number of blogs on the topic. Simply put, VUCA is like an E ticket ride at Disneyland , in dense fog, with a stuck stop/start gear.
Leadership Communication Tips in VUCA
Several years ago, I was on a cross-country flight. The pilot came on and told us that we were going to encounter some turbulence. He explained that we were going through a patch of rough air that was akin to being on top of pot of boiling water. He went on to say that he and the copilot were committed to finding calmer air space. As I recall, he explained that the bumpiness would last about 15 minutes. During that time, we could expect the ride to be quite bumpy. Having a clear picture of what was happening, why, and how long it would last certainly helped relieve the collective passenger anxiety.
Courage to Continue in Tough Times
This morning's San Francisco Chronicle featured a story in remembrance of the Jonestown massacres thirty years ago. In the front page article, Congresswoman Jackie Spier recalls her trip to Jonestown with Congressman Leo Ryan . For the past several weeks, the daily financial news has been grimmer and grimmer. Business leaders are faced with rising costs, uncertain revenue projections, and a shortfall of cash and credit.