Leadership, motivation, team building, emotional intelligence

Publications, Media, and Press

Zen and the Art of Leadership
Presented at Infotec 2010, Omaha NE
"Creating the Culture" Chapter One of The 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development
The Leader Who Did't Play Well With Others
What happens when a leader does not play well with others?

Is that really such a bargain?
How much is that bargain costing your company?
Slow Down -- Move With Precision, Not Speed in Corp! Magazine
Are you in the right place at the right time?
Are You Helping Your Business Team to Warm Up? in Corp! Magazine
It's not how fast you go, it's how smoothly you accelerate.
A Little Inefficiency Can Go a Long Way in Corp! Magazine
When is efficiency killing your productivity?
The Difference Between Managers and Leaders? Less Than You Think! in Corp! Magazine
What is the real difference between managers and leaders?
It Was Supposed to Fly? in Corp! Magazine.
Make sure you know what you are actually rewarding!
Make Sure Work Gets Done When the Boss is Away in Corp! Magazine
You have a dedicated team. Why aren't they working when the boss is away?
Why It's So Hard to Deal With Office Jerks in Corp! Magazine
Why do Jerks last so long despite the harm they are causing?
"That's An Amazing Serve! in MeasureIT
How do you get trust to develop and how do you end up getting in your own way?
"The Paradox of Perfection" in American Business Magazine.
What does the perfect employee really look like?
"Are You Speaking To Me?" in Corp! Magazine.
How can you tell if the members of your team are actually speaking to one another?
"When The Solution Is The Problem" in Corp! Magazine
How do you transform a poorly performing team into a high performance one?
"Flawed Execution -- Don't Lose Your Head Over It" in Corp! Magazine
When heads are rolling, innovation and initiative get killed
"The Destroyer of Cultures" at ERE.net
Did you just hire the destroyer of cultures?
"The Team Driver Paradox" in Corp! Magazine
If you want a leaderless team, you need understand who is doing nothing productively.
"Help Star Performers Ramp up the Whole Team"in Corp! Magazine
How do you enable star performers to increase everyone's productivity?
"Using Games to Build Your Team" on Talking Work.
"The Secret to Productive Staff Meetings" in Medical Office Today
How much time is disappearing in your office?
"Don't Let Dracula Decisions Roam Your Business" in Corp! Magazine
Why do some issues keep coming back from the grave?
"The Blame of Phobos Grunt" in Corp! Magazine
Blame may not affect falling satellites, but it can easily cause falling sales.
"My Hovercraft is Full of Eels" in Corp! Magazine.
What does it look like when communications start to break down?
"Becoming a Loyalty Magnet" in American Business Owner Magazine.
How do you create and maintain loyalty?
"Take a Future Retrospective" in Corp! Magazine.
What questions will help you find out what your clients really want?
"Mastering Your Schedule" on Time Tamer Talk Radio
"How to Use Sports to Advance Leadership and Organizational Development"on the Full Potential Show
"Of Cats and Unwanted Prizes" in Corp! Magazine.
When is it really a disaster and when does it only look like one?
"What Are You Really Asking For?" in Corp! Magazine.
What behaviors are you accidently rewarding?
"Who Betrays One Master" in The Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
When you lure employees away from another company, what sort of culture are you building?
"Sir CEO and the Green Knight" in the CEO Refresher.
What do engineers really want?
"Goof Gas Change" in The Business Enterprise.
Don't let your organizational change efforts turn into goof gas.
"A Tale of Two Light Bulbs" in the CEO Refresher.
Are you innovating or getting stuck on the obvious problem?
"What Big Picture?" in the CEO Refresher.
It's amazing how much better the picture is when you give yourself the space to enjoy it.
"Knowhow: Using the Force" in the Worcester Business Journal.
What every exec can learn from Darth Vader
"One Difference Between the Jobless and the Employed: Luck" at ERE.net.
We don't like to acknowledge the role played by luck, but oddly enough the universe doesn't care what we think.
"Cut Big Problems into Solvable Pieces and Get Moving" in Corp! Magazine.
When a tree falls on your car, it might look like a major disaster. If you attack the problem in pieces, it may just turn out to be no more than an inconvenience.
"The Efficient Lightbulb" in The Imaging Executive.
Giving off no waste heat and using no fossil fuels are not always as valuable as they might seem.
"The Hydrangea Conundrum" in the CEO Refresher.
Are you paying attention to something real or being distracted by the pretty flowers?
"Balance the Individual and the Team for Top Performance" in Corp! Magazine.
Mob, horde, or team? What is the difference? Which one do you have?
"Make a New Plan, Stan" in Corp! Magazine.
Do you have a plan? Do you have the confidence to carry it out?
"The Peter Principle of the Thing" in Corp! Magazine.
When can you do better by promoting people at random?
"Death of a Thousand Knives" in Corp! Magazine.
Not many companies are driven out of business by their competitors, rather they cause their own demise with cuts from a thousand knives.
"Real Science Fiction" in Corp! Magazine.
How many meetings have you attended where everyone was actively engaged?
"The Accidental Leader" in Corp! Magazine.
It can be tricky to take over a team, especially when they had a very popular leader. Whether you succeed or not depends on how you approach them!
"Shaky Ground" in Lab Manager Magazine.
Organizational change doesn't have to feel like an earthquake. Here's how to make it work.
"The Blofeld School of Management" in Performance and Profits.
The habit of dropping people in piranha tanks makes it hard for SPECTRE to learn from mistakes. Here's how to learn from errors without serious consequences for the business or for individuals.
"Storming the Black Gate" in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
The secret to confidence is having it when things are difficult, not just when they are easy!
"Smell Test" in Corp! Magazine.
Fish, wine and management have a couple of things in common. And sometimes it's right under your nose.
"When the Fat Tuesday Sings" in the CEO Refresher.
When is expert opinion valuable and when will it get you into trouble?
"Recruit Confidently" at ERE.Net.
Do you trust your company's hiring process? What happens if you hire the wrong person?
"Mousetrap Company" in Corp! Magazine.
When something goes wrong, how do you know where the problem originated?
"When the CEO Meets Frankenstein" in Corp! Magazine.
How do you know which behaviors produce motivated employees and which ones lead to a comedy of errors?
"Meditation Positively Improves Performance" in Black Belt Magazine.
Improving performance under stress takes time in sports or business
"I Don't Believe It!" in Corp! Magazine.
What happens when your unerring instincts lead you to distrust the person who is honestly trying to help you?
"Hire Slow and Fire... Slower?" in Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
If your recruiting process is working, the slowest part should be convincing the right people to apply.
"Between Two Points" in Corp! Magazine.
Results Only Work Environments (ROWE) fail surprisingly often. Here's why.
"Being Fred Flintstone" in the CEO Refresher.
What can you do if it looks to you like the other people are not working hard?
"Business Lessons From The Avengers (pt 2)"at Under30CEO.
The Avengers are as sophisticated today as they were in the 1960s. That's also true of organizational leadership, if you know what to look for.
"Business Lessons From The Avengers (pt 1)" at Under30CEO.
The Avengers are as sophisticated today as they were in the 1960s. That's also true of organizational leadership, if you know what to look for.
"The Challenges With Hiring Slow" at ERE.Net.
Do you know who you are looking for, or is "hire slow" simply an excuse?
"Solving Yesterday's Problems" in Corp! Magazine.
What's keeping you focused on solving old problems instead of new ones?
"The Taboo of the Bananas: Organizational Culture and Recruiting" in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
What are the hidden assumptions in your corporate culture that are keeping you from hiring the best people?
"Baker Street Irregular Behavior In Your Organization" at the American Management Association.
Do you have a team or people who view one another as tools?
"As Above, So Below" in Corp! Magazine.
What does the fall of General McChrystal teach us about leadership?
"Put The Candle Back" in the CEO Refresher.
Have you ever had the experience of seeing a change in one part of the company cause problems somewhere else? So have lots of other people. Here's why it happens.
"No Escaping That For Me" in Corp! Magazine.
What do you do when you discover that you're playing out old organizational battles?
"I Told You: 360 Degree Feedback Done Right" in LabManager Magazine.
Sompe people complain that performance reviews are useless. Not so... if you do them right!
"8 Questions About Your Hiring Process" at ERE.Net.
If your recruiting process doesn't do this, you have a problem!
"A Perfect Solution" in the CEO Refresher.
Sometimes, things do work out right. Here's how.
"Decider's Remorse" in Corp! Magazine.
Here's how to avoid revisiting past decisions over and over.
"Too Many Chiefs" in Corp! Magazine.
Is the problem too many chiefs or too few members?
"The Missing I" in the Messenger.
Can your team see where it is going?
"The Procrustes Method" in the CEO Refresher.
If you're trying to make one size fit all, you may find yourself cut off at the knees!
"Where There Is Nothing" in the CEO Refresher.
If there's no silence between the beats, there's no music. What does that say about your company?
"Communicating With Retention In Mind" in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
As the economy improves, how will you keep your best people?
"Ten Things I Know About... Innovation" in the Worcester Business Journal.
Creating an innovative work environment doesn't have to be difficult!
"Deja vu All Over Again" in the CEO Refresher.
How do you keep the same problems from returning over and over again, like Dracula from the grave?
"7 Things You Should Communicate" at ERE.net.
What messages are you really sending to your employees?
"The Godot Effect" at ERE.Net.
Are you waiting for a candidate who will never appear? Will you recognize a perfect candidate if you see her?
"How to Effectively Motivate Your Team" in CareerSmart Advisor.
Are you making motivation more complicated than it needs to be?
"Take Off Your Hat: You're In The Presence of Culture" in Analog Science Fiction/Fact.
Organizational culture is powerful. What are you doing to shape it to meet your needs?
"Who's In Charge Here?" in the CEO Refresher.
How will you recognize good leaders?
"Boiling the Frog" in the CEO Refresher.
Frogs know enough to get out of boiling water. What's stopping you?
"Cut Loose the Anchors" in the Messenger.
What traditions are holding your company back?
"Things Go Boom" in the Messenger.
Planning for disasters can make the whole organization more productive, even if the disaster never occurs!
"Tuning Your Team" in The Imaging Executive.
Whare the signs that your team is heading for trouble?
"Succeeding by Imagining Success" on Youth Sport Psychology Radio.
How do you imagine what you want?
"Stalking the Elusive Leader," in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
What does it take to get that perfect leader to join your organization? How will you recognize him or her?
"Light's Better Here" in the Messenger.
Are you solving the problems that are easy or the ones that matter?
"The Seven Habits of Pointy-Haired Bosses," on The CEO Refresher.
Look like anyone you know?
"Right To Midnight" in the Messenger
"Building confidence by focusing on success" on Youth Sport Radio
"We Multi-Task Here" at ERE.Net
"Leadership and team formation" live interview on Leadership Radio
"Creating an innovative workforce" live interview on Motivational Minds radio
"3 Things Business Can Do to Grow in a Down Economy (live interview)," on Factor77 TV.
"Thinking Outside The Box" in CareerSmart Advisor
"Yankee Swap Rorschach" featured on AffluentMagazine.com
"If It Ain't Broke..." in Enterprise Management Quarterly

"Slip Slidin' Away" in The CEO Refresher
"Strengthen your business by knowing your competition" in Mass High Tech
"The Bilingual Advantage In IT" in Enterprise Management Quarterly
"How You Hire Just As Important As Who You Hire" in the Indus Business Journal
"We're Doomed!" on CEO Refresher
"The Aardvark Principle" featured on AffluentMagazine.com
"Maintaining Motivation" in the SENG Newsletter
"How to Make Meetings More Productive Endeavors," in CareerSmart Advisor
Leadership Radio interview on the Nature of Leadership
"Zen and the Art of Leadership," on CEO Refresher
"Growing Wheat in Siberia," on FreudTV.com
"Talent Magnet: The key to attracting the right staff is to look inward," in the Worcester Business Journal.
"Five-Step Process to Making Change Work," in Mass High Tech
"A Good Leader Shines Under Pressure," in Mass High Tech
"Throwing Sand in the Gears," at ByThePeople.org
"The Success Mind," in the Worcester Business Journal
"Great Follies in American Business -- The 'Great-Uncle' Technique," at ByThePeople.org
Exploiting the Constraints of the Medium -- Applying Lessons From Tabletop vs. Live Roleplaying to Computer Games. Webcast available at WPI Interactive Media and Game Development.
"Building a talent team, not a horde of heroes," in Mass High Tech.
"Visionary Visions: How to avoid becoming Dilbert's pointy-haired boss," in the Worcester Business Journal.
"Routine Matters," in the Lincoln Journal.
"Start With Good Grapes," in the Expert's Corner of the Worcester Business Journal.
"The Use of Structured Goal Setting in Simulation Design"
Applying goal setting techniques to create more effective, more enjoyable, games and simulations. Originally published in the Journal of Interactive Drama, November, 2007.
"Darth Vader Killed Your Father"
A discussion of the psychology of betrayal.
Originally published in the Spring 2007 issue of The Kiai Echo.
"Why Teams Fail"
The first few days and weeks are critical to building a team. Here are some common mistakes to avoid.
First published in the November 2006 issue of the Messenger.
"Cartesian Splits and Chinese Splits"
Efficient and effective mental focus for sports and business.
Presented at SENG 2006 and published in The Kiai Echo - Summer 2006.
"Using Relaxation to Rev Up and Rev Down"
Relaxation techniques can be used to calm down in stressful situations or to psych up to meet a challenge or accomplish a difficult goal.
Originally presented at SENG: Bridging the Gap, Summer 2006.
Defining Group Goals
SMART goals are harder than they look. Here's how to make them work for your team.
Published in the Messenger.
"Leggo My Ego"
How to use competition to improve skill mastery in martial arts.
Published in The Kiai Echo - Fall 2005.
Team Questions
A questionnaire to help determine whether your team is operating at a peak level or at risk of significant underperformance.
Video from the IGDA NY panelist meeting on June 21, 2007

More videos from the IGDA NY panelist meeting with Steve Balzac at YouTube…

If you are interested in reprinting one of these articles or having a new article written for your publication, please contact us for more information.

Press - 7 Steps Ahead

Publications, Media, and Press

Latest Newsletter

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Press

Radio and TV Interviews