She Made It Crooked
Hal’s Blog- Each year, Pam and I host a few artists in our Adirondack home who gather to paint for a weekend near Old Forge, NY. This year we had Jean with us, a budding artist whose job was making teeth. For years she fashioned crowns, bridges and other replacements.
Could have would have should have
Hal’s blog- Words are distinct, even when they are presumed to go together. In a new INC newsletter, Jeff Hagen flags words that prompt increased achievement in people and organizations. One of them is “could.” He notes that the word we often use is “should,” which tends to make choice binary. Should we do this or that…
ATTENTION!
Hal”s Blog- In an achievement framework, we speak of defining results and designing programs to achieve them. In these times, it is just as hard, however, to stick to results as to anything else. Gloria Mark points out the challenge in her new book Attention Span: A groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity. She has found that people spend an average of 47...
Made to Stick
Hal’s Blog- I was rereading my many underlining’s in a book by this title last night as I unpacked boxes for our winter in Florida. Dan and Chip Heath’s 2007 explanations of why some ideas last and others die are—sadly—just as relevant today as when they wrote it
What do you do with an idea?
Hal’s Blog- I was working with a fine group of nonprofit organizations in the Tampa, Florida region last week in a program of …
On the virtues of the unexpected
Much of our life is spent living in the land of expectations met. What happened yesterday happens tomorrow. I drink the same coffee, use the same toothpaste, greet people with the same expressions. We assume the expected and value it. More people rate McDonalds high because they offer the same things everywhere than because it serves great hamburgers. Where it gets interesting is in the ways...
What Lies Between?
Hal’s Blog- Last week I wrote about boxes and how the organization charts that contain them can have so little effect on organizational culture or performance. My colleague Arthur Webb wrote a comment musing on how a CEO might graph a set of relationships with no boxes. Great question. Let’s ponder it this week.
Moving Boxes
Moving Boxes Last Sunday I was scratching my head for a blog topic this week and found one in an article inthe Los Angeles Times headlined “As global health threats evolved, the CDC didn’t.” Thearticle focused on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how and why they hadseemed to be lagging rather than leading during most of the pandemic.My eye caught a quote from CDC director...
What Happens after a program?
Hal’s blog- I was speaking with my colleague Michael Corley the other day about how best to understand the longer-term impacts from a program designed to help nonprofits. My interest was practical. My Results1st partner, Robyn Faucy, led a four-part program for a number of nonprofits…