Credit Taken, Credit Not Due – The Ugly One of the most destructive of all management traits is the manager who takes credit for everything that their staff actually produced. Where things get ugly, is when the manager takes credit for something that they know nothing about. Staff sees that as a huge credibility gap […]

Those who were around in 1990, will remember … • “The Simpsons” is aired on Fox for the first time. • The demolition of the Berlin Wall officially begins. • The movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” launches. And, PowerPoint was officially launched on May 22, 1990, as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. That […]

The Thinker – The Very Good Almost every Monday, Peter Mazzola (our manager) would announce that while out riding his bike hundreds of miles that weekend, he was ‘thinking.’ Everyone would tremble because we all knew what that meant … something new was coming. However, the good news was that with Mazzola, it was always […]

Going to school is a lot of work. Going to college was even more effort. So when we confront our employees with ‘training initiatives,’ what do they think? “Great, more work.” One of the best ways to combat that attitude is to instill a sense of competition and/or fun into the equation. It can be […]

Please, will someone explain to me where the ‘social’ in social media is? A post on Facebook with a selfie? A 140 character splat on Twitter? An ill formed text message? OMG, where is the ‘Social’ in that? Really? The telephone is really the easiest and quickest way to get responses from people in the […]

The Truth Is in the Trenches – The Good Most of us remember the short tale by Hans Christian Anderson about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his […]

Ever tried to ice skate? You were most likely a pro after one lesson, right? Learning is a process, not a one-time task. Those of us in the ‘teaching’ industry know this all too well. Sure, there are well documented learning styles, but all that pales compared to the value of repetitive training … especially […]

“Education is every day and everywhere, the only thing that you have to pay, is attention.” Tim Fargo Ever walk into a training session and begin your well-thought out session, only to look at the faces in the room with horror? Some of the students are bored. Some are engaged. And some are so far […]

The Cowboy – The Ugly One story tells it all … As normal during a northwest winter, an ice storm was fast approaching the area. Freeways and bridges were on alert for closure and city officials were asking for emergency driving only. The manager, Mike, called each of us and told us not to drive until […]

  Peter Pan, “All Children, Except One, Grow Up” – The Bad On the surface, Bob looked like a great guy. He was fun and engaging, and certainly the life of the party. Late night hot tubs and wine bottles were the norm with Bob and his staff. Although buyer beware, if he was ever […]