Architect of Pause

Set Up Your Team To Be Successful

The first month of 2016 has already come and gone. By now you’ve (hopefully) set your primary strategic goals for the year, pinpointed the destination, and painted a clear picture of what winning looks like for your organization. The next step involves one of the most important leadership roles and skills – setting up everyone…

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Five More Ways to Sustain Your Innovation Efforts

  Innovation often requires us to think and act differently from the way the human brain likes to operate.  For example, some of the most important innovation leadership skills require conscious effort to override the brain’s innate tendency to see what it wants to see. These include: Challenging your assumptions Changing your perspective Asking the…

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Put the Resolve Back into Your New Year’s Resolutions

Thinking about making New Year’s resolutions but worried about not being able to follow through? If so, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey, 16% of people decided not to set any New Year’s resolutions in 2015, and that number is expected to increase for 2016. Of those who do plunge ahead with well-intentioned resolutions,…

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Teach Employees the Business of Your Business

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t been asleep at the wheel lately, but we don’t work in the same business world as 20, 10, or even five years ago. Things move so fast these days that much of what we learned about how to lead an organization no longer applies. It…

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Brain Biases: Tricks or Treats?

  Do you believe in ghosts? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent Harris Poll reported that more than four out of 10 Americans believe in the spooky apparitions. It could be due to the fact that we’re all watching too many haunted house movies. Or, it could be a reflection of the way…

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How to Suck at Winning

A while back, I wrote a blog about how to suck at leadership. A tongue-in-cheek look at how not to be an effective leader, it turned out to be one of my more popular blogs. In the spirit of those rare Hollywood sequels that don’t suck, here’s one on how to suck at winning. Apparently,…

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How to Lose the Fear of Focus

    The business world moves so rapidly these days it’s a wonder anyone can keep up. While this create stress, it also opens up a host of opportunities for those with the vision and passion to pursue them. However, like a kid in a candy store with only a few dollars to spend, it…

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Three Steps to Creating an Intentional Culture

Creating the right culture for an organization is a key component for long-term success. Unfortunately many leaders don’t know how to clearly define culture, much less build the one they want. Workplace culture is the character and personality of your organization. It’s what makes your organization unique, and is the sum of its values, traditions,…

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Is Winning a Secret in Your Organization?

It feels good to win – in business as well as sports and almost any other endeavor. We all know winning when we see it or feel it. It’s that moment of excitement and exhilaration. It’s the urge to jump in the air and pump our fists; to give high-fives to our teammates. It’s that…

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10 Clichés Leaders Use (and How to Avoid Them)

Holly welcomes guest blogger Sarah Landrum- As a leader, one of your responsibilities, among other things, is to make sure you and your employees remain on the same page. If you do that by bombarding them with clichés , however, it is likely you’ll end up with a team of bored, unmotivated and jaded people….

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10 Excuses for Not Developing Strategic Agility

In today’s warp-speed business world, strategic agility – the ability to move fast with flexibility and focus – is no longer a competitive advantage. It’s a business imperative. If your organization can’t adapt on the run without losing sight of winning, your competition will soon be looking at you through their rear-view mirror. Interestingly, when…

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Employee Engagement 2015: Not Much Has Changed

Do you have an engaged, committed workforce?  How do you know? Here’s one way to find out. Each year, Gallup surveys a broad base of employees on this issue. They identified 12 key indicators that translate to high levels of employee engagement: I know what is expected of me at work. I have the materials…

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