Now for something completely different! InDesign magazine asked me to write an article about what I might do if I owned a jewelry store. I would be following a similar article written by Ivanka Trump (who actually owns a jewelry store).
It should come as no surprise that I immediately saw this as an opportunity to talk about the importance of the force of connection and how it contributes to the success of retail businesses. Here’s a link to the article entitled “If I Owned a Jewelry Store.”
Online MBA Rankings
Forgive me for this self indulgent, celebratory post. Recently, I learned that MichaelLeeStallard.com was recognized as one of the top ten blogs on leadership by an organization that ranks blogs. Earlier this year, our blog received a similar honor from Jurgen Noop. It was my good fortune to also recently be recognized by HR Examiner as a “Top 25 Online Influencer on Leadership.” (You can learn more about it at this link as well as in a podcast about the online influencer list with Peter Clayton of Total Picture Radio.) To top it off, MichaelLeeStallard.com was just added to Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop.com Leadership Blogs List. (I would do a dance over all this good news but my teenage daughters would laugh up-roariously at the ridiculous sight of their father dancing.)
Jason Pankau and I were recently guests on LeaderLab’s podcast interviews available online or at iTunes. LeaderLab’s podcasts are hosted by David Burkus. David’s past guests on LeaderLab’s podcasts have included Marshall Goldsmith, Daniel Pink and Steve Farber. Check it out.
Today, The Economic Times in India published an article I wrote about Jim Goodnight and SAS Institute. The article is based on an interview I conducted with Goodnight at Giant Impact’s Leadercast conference in Atlanta. You can read my article at The Economic Times‘ website or below.
On June 23, I’ll be filming a few video segments for the Leader to Leader Institute’s “Leaders of the New Century” project that includes Allan Mulally of Ford, Sir Richard Branson and Tony Hseih of Zappos. Next week the Summer edition of the Leader to Leader Journal comes out. It includes an article that Jason Pankau and I wrote entitled “To Boost Productivity and Innovation, Connect with the Core.” The article is about how great leaders don’t just focus on star performers, they are intentional about connecting with employees at large. Examples in the article include Ret. U.S. Chief of Navy Operations Admiral Vern Clark and Bono, the lead singer for the rock band U2.
Interested in improving your career prospects? Check out Launch Summit: Conversations on Career Potential. This series of free webinars includes presentations from experts in diverse fields related to career. It begins tomorrow at 10:00 AM Eastern and continues through Thursday. I’ll be speaking about healthy work environments at 1:00 PM Eastern on Thursday, April 22nd.
Quote of the day: “Connection is the force that transforms a dog-eat-dog culture into a sled dog team that pulls together.” – Jason Pankau
It’s been a very good week. This morning I received an email that Tom Peters was following my tweets. In the early 1980s, as I young employee of Texas Instruments I read In Search of Excellence and went through a training program based on Tom’s book and ideas. I still have the audio tapes from his lectures! What I found so enthralling was that he described what was possible, a better work culture and an organization where people thrived individually and collectively. It put a fire in my belly not to settle for the current reality. For Tom Peters influence in my life, I am sincerely grateful.
Other good things that happened this week:
Jurgen Noop from the Netherlands recognized my blog as one of the top leadership and management blogs. Many thanks, Jurgen!
This week I thoroughly enjoyed speaking about the Connection Culture, Fired Up or Burned Out, employee engagement, leadership, productivity and innovation with Zane Safrit on his Blog Talk Radio program, Nathan Ives on the StrategyDriven Podcast, and Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown on their Real Recognition Radio program. What wonderful people to get to know. I encourage you to check out their work.
Yesterday, I spoke at an organizational development network conference on Long Island. It was a tremendous group with great energy and intelligence. I’m still buzzing from the experience.
And finally, I connected via email with Parker Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. Jason Pankau, my best friend, business partner, and author of the foregoing “quote of the day,” gave me Parker’s book as a gift some years ago. It had a profound effect on me. I still revisit it periodically. It is a small book that’s packed with wisdom. If you’ve not read it, I highly encourage you to check it out along with everything else Parker writes about on the website for his organization The Center for Courage and Renewal. He is a man of remarkable wisdom and character.
Over the weekend I’m finishing the remarkable book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas and working on an article with Howard Behar, the extraordinary leader who turned around Starbucks.
Have a great weekend!