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Corporation: “to thine own self be true”

Inspired by Socrates advice to “know thyself,” Shakespeare penned the words “to thine own self be true” in Hamlet. From our research at E Pluribus Partners on employee engagement, leadership development and team building, we know that great leaders have a high degree of self awareness, i.e. they know who they are and who they are not.

Knowing oneself is also important to organizations. Why? Organizations today must differentiate themselves in ways that are relevant to customers in order to win in the crowded, noisy marketplace. You can learn how by watching a recent webcast I hosted with Larry Ackerman, one of today’s leading experts on corporate and individual identity. Larry is the founder and president of The Identity Circle. He is also the author of two excellent books I recommend entitled Identity is Destiny and The Identity Code. In his presentation, Larry explains how he helped the Global 500 company Norsk Hydro discover its identity. You can see my webcast with Larry Ackerman by clicking on employee engagement.

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“Amazing Things Are Happening Here” Featured on Leadership Development Carnival

Dan McCarthy, leadership blogger and head of leadership and management development at Paychex, selected one of my blog posts to be included in his current edition of Leadership Development Carnival. While you’re there, check out some of the great posts by insightful bloggers such as Steve Roesler, Wally Bock an Miki Saxon.

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Speaking at a Social Media Conference in San Francisco

I wanted to let you know that I will be presenting at the Advanced learning Institute’s “Social Media For Internal Communications Conference: How To Engage Employees, Drive Change & Improve Your Bottom Line Using BLOGGING, PODCASTING & The Latest WEB 2.0 Technologies,” November 17-20, 2008 in San Francisco, CA.  This conference will focus on how to use social media for internal communications and leverage the latest interactive tools and techniques to advance your organizational goals. You can save $200 by mentioning email code “SPK” when registering and another $400 on top of that if you register by October 2nd (the “early bird” registration deadline).

My session topic will be:“Giving Employees A Voice: How H&R Block Built An Online Community”

For more information or to register, see below or click here to go to the conference website. 

Hope to see you there!

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Book Review: Why is Everyone Smiling?

Paul Spiegelman, CEO of the Beryl Companies, has written a wonderful book about Beryl Companies and its extraordinary culture.  Rather than write a review of Paul’s book, I’m posting the review written by the business maven and book reviewer extraordinaire Robert Morris (see below).  On Monday at 11:00 AM Eastern, I will be hosting a webcast with Paul Spiegelman and you can sign up for it by clicking on employee engagement.

Robert Morris review of Why Is Everyone Smiling?

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Do Your Company’s Mission, Vision and Values fall flat?

A well-articulated mission, vision and set of values increases employee engagement. It’s the responsibility of an organization’s leadership to understand and communicate mission, vision and values. Sadly, most leaders dismiss it as window dressing. Great leaders, however, are serious about this responsibility. Howard Schultz of Starbucks did a remarkable job when he wrote the book Pour Your Heart Into it. Here’s another outstanding example below from the commander of the nuclear submarine, the U.S.S. Montpelier. Next month Jason Pankau and I will holding a training session for managers at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics. They build nuclear submarines. When I recently read Montpelier Command Philosophy, my thoughts were on the people I’ve met and worked with at Lockheed Martin Aerospace and who build and maintain military aircraft and those I’ll meet who build nuclear submarines. Their work is so important to protect liberty on the world. I hope they appreciate it.

The USS Montpelier Command Philosophy

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Webcast: Beryl Companies’ Remarkable Corporate Culture

Tune in on Monday September, 29 at 11:00 AM Eastern to hear my guest Paul Spiegelman, CEO of Beryl Companies, talk about the remarkable corporate culture at Beryl and how it has resulted in high levels of employee engagement and retention.  This organization is one of the best examples of a Connection Culture that I am aware of and Paul is an extraordinary leader and author of Why is Everyone Smiling?  

For more about the webcast click on employee engagement.

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Webcast Tomorrow: H&R Block Connects to Improve Employee Engagement

Tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM EST I will host a webcast with my guest Kristina Patrick, Senior Project Manager for Outreach and Business Development at H&R Block.  When H&R Block’s new leaders wanted to engage employees by involving them in a conversation about the firm’s activities, they turned to Kristina. With a meager budget Kristina and her colleagues produced a remarkable internal news and social media platform that had H&R Blockers buzzing. Tune into this webcast to hear how you and your company can increase employee engagement and get the biggest bang out of your internal communications and social media budgets.  You can sign up to attend by clicking on employee engagement.

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Great News Today From Katie’s Oncologist

katie-on-swing.jpg Forgive me for this self indulgent post but I feel like shouting to the world what my wife Katie’s oncologist just told us today:  Katie is not likely to have a recurrence of ovarian cancer after being in remission for nearly five years now.  We celebrated the good news with Dr. Hensley, our oncologist, and Nick the doorman (and now receptionist) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who I’ve written about.  

In honor of the occasion, I’m posting an essay I wrote about our experience, how our family members and friends helped us through a difficult season, and how the experience changed my life.  Feeling that people really cared for Katie and our family helped me see how important relationships are in life and to employee engagement in the workplace. Here’s the essay:

Many inspiring articles have been written about cancer survivors and how the experience of facing cancer and overcoming it changed their lives.  Fewer are the stories of those who walk beside them. Just as a stone tossed into still waters sends ripples to every shore, the impact of a cancer diagnosis stirs up the lives of more than just the patient. This is my story of walking beside my wife Katie during her battle against first one cancer and then a second a year later, a journey that has changed my life in expected and unexpected ways.