Conversations with Procurement: Are People Just a Number?

A recent providential plane ride seated me next to a procurement executive (purchasing or sourcing, if you will). After greetings and the obligatory questions related to our occupation, a fascinating dialogue ensued. As someone who regularly interacts with indirect sourcing professionals, we were able to discuss our perceptions and paradigms regarding the way staffing services [...]

November 13th, 2019|

Perception Is Reality…and Other False Ideas

Among many others, my title includes a common false statement. Sometimes our perception has nothing to do with reality or objective truth for that matter. Why? We are emotional creatures prone to seeing things through a lens shaped by our experiences and wishes. Although we might want something to be true, believing it to be [...]

September 30th, 2019|

Change or Die

An excerpt from an article* by Alan Deutschman for Fast Company: Change or Die. What if you were given that choice? For real. What if it weren’t just the hyperbolic rhetoric that conflates corporate performance with life and death? Not the overblown exhortations of a rabid boss, or a slick motivational speaker or a self-dramatizing [...]

July 25th, 2019|

Recruitment, Retention, Engagement and a Foundational Emotional Need

I often question groups I am training about what they consider their greatest emotional need. Common answers tend to include respect, a sense of belonging and community, security (which is related to trust), love, acceptance, validation, peace of mind and success. Okay, I don’t think “success” is an emotional need, but it is the byproduct [...]

June 18th, 2019|

Better is Bigger

One long-standing aspect of the American culture is the belief that "bigger is better." A humorous yet proverbial anecdote might be helpful to illustrate this point. A young Texas belle, eager to have the finer things in life, happened upon - what she hoped - was a wealthy rancher. Although plainspoken with simple accoutrements, he [...]

May 7th, 2019|