Twenty years ago I went to a leadership development program called LeaderLab at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. We spent a week in Greensboro, then worked on our leadership action plan back at the office for about three months, then reconvened in Greensboro for a week to revisit and revise our action […]
Author Archives: Dave Franzetta
Running in Place
Here’s a proposition: Purpose is the ACT of consciously applying our motivated strength and resources to people and projects that move us and in which we believe. That’s more than a mouthful to swallow in one bite, so let’s parse it into edible chunks. It’s an “act”, so it implies that we have to DO something, […]
In Praise of Curmudgeons
In response to one of my recent blog posts, a friend suggested that I was becoming a curmudgeon. I wasn’t really sure whether I should feel insulted by the comment. I decided to look the word up in the dictionary. According to the Miriam–Webster Dictionary, a curmudgeon is “a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man.” […]
Trade-Offs
How often do you find yourself confronted by a situation where you have to make a choice, and none of the options under consideration seems to be a perfect fit for your current needs or desires? It happens all of the time. Examples abound, and we need look no further than the disturbing political three-ring […]
We Talk Too Much
We all talk too much. I’m not referring to intelligent conversation, rational argument, intellectual debate, or anything of that ilk. I’m thinking about all of the idle chit-chat, meaningless prattle and idle bulls**t that pollutes our auditory system on an almost never-ending basis. We have Talk Shows on TV. When we get in the car […]
Teamwork – and All That Jazz
Let me make this clear right up front. I’m not a music critic, and certainly not a jazz critic. I like some jazz music, but I’m not a raving fan. Nonetheless, when my good friend, Doc Gruver, invited my wife Debbie and me to join him and his wife Linda at the Sunset Jazz at […]
Of Castles and Cultures
A number of years ago I attended a seminar on Power and Influence delivered by Charles Dwyer, a long-time faculty member at the Wharton School. Dr. Dwyer argued that organizations don’t have any life force, so they can’t have missions, values, visions goals objectives or purposes. Only PEOPLE can have these things, because only people […]
Stuck?
We all know what it’s like to get really STUCK when working on an issue or a problem. Sometimes when it happens to me, I feel like I’m stalling out, as if I had been digging a hole and hit a big rock. The rock is too heavy to move; too large to get around […]
Like a Nautilus
I have learned that I am not a continuous learner. I learn in sometimes dazzling bursts. But then I go through a phase of consolidation and integration. It’s as if I need some time to rest, refresh, renew, and maybe even reshape my view of the world, before blazing into another flaming glory of learning. […]
Ten Commandments of Teamwork
A group of my students were working on a team project, and were experiencing some problems getting their act together. Nothing too serious, just the sort of symptomatic problems that seem to get in the way of top-notch performance from team efforts. Why do we seem to have problems working together on teams? Everybody knows […]