Last week at Leaders Connect, Professor Len Middleton of the University of Michigan, continued our theme of innovation and presented on “Innovation in a Rapidly Changing World”. Len challenged and awed the standing room only crowd. The implications of his talk are so critical to leaders in our country that I am devoting today’s column. If you missed his presentation you can watch the video HERE, or see the power point HERE. Here are some of his key points: …
I recently asked my “friends” on Facebook why they love Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, one of the most common answers was that they love being together with friends on the holiday. Sure, family was the number one response, but almost as frequently I heard people extol about how they enjoyed being with friends for the holiday. This certainly is true for me and my family. This Thanksgiving, as we have for many years, we celebrated the holiday together with our …
“The purpose of life is not about accomplishments, life is about experiences” (Contributed by my friend, Sunil Thakur) In the workplace, the number one complaint I hear is, “I do not have enough time.” Workers seem more pressured these days by time than they do by money. So as a leader of your organization, this holiday season consider giving the gift of time. Here are my top 10 tips for giving the gift of time this holiday season: For the …
Larry Freed, who was our speaker at the November Leaders Connect event (see the video HERE if you missed it) has made a career on measuring customer satisfaction. He has found that a satisfying customer experience is the best driver for business revenue growth. His company, Foresee, developed a key performance indicator: the Word of Mouth Index (WoMI), which measures a customer’s likelihood to be a promoter or detractor for a business. (For further explanation, please see his book “Innovating Analytics”) Based …
“Don’t walk behind me, I may not want to lead. Don’t walk before me, I may not want to follow. Walk by my side and let us be friends.” -Thomas Mann In our fast-changing and troubled world, this quote contains a good underlying message for everyone: We are all in this together. As leaders in organizations, walking side by side and being friends with our employees is difficult. Yet we know we should not walk nor lead alone. An important …
This week I have the honor of hosting three of Ann Arbor’s most successful entrepreneurs. Today, Michelle Crumm, co-founder of Adaptive Materials, will be the guest presenter in my class at the University of Michigan Business School on “Managing Professional Relationships.” On Friday at my Leaders Connect Breakfast at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Larry Freed, founder of ForeSee, will present. Next Monday Davy Rothbart, founder of Found Magazine, will also present to my class at the Business School (Davy will also …