In my keynote to NAWIC’s Women’s Leadership Conference in San Antonio, I asked a simple question: “What will you do in the next 6-12 months to make a substantial impact in your business or career? At first blush, it sounds like an easy question. In truth, few people have a ready answer. That’s why I asked.

Perhaps you know Happy Talk, a song from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical South Pacific: “You’ve got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true.” In the real world, there are “pie in the sky” dreams that never materialize; and there are the dreams that transform companies. Great leaders not only know the difference, they know how to make their dreams happen. That was a big part of our focus at NAWIC’s Breaking Boundaries Conference.  Continue reading…

Convention says that to transform the business culture, start with a spate of town hall meetings, dinners with staff, elaborate family outings, and a blitz of internal PR. Designate culture champions to launch a campaign in every location. Make everyone feel great about the company. Play to win, not lose, and profits will soar!

There is a more realistic view. Culture is a by-product of concrete leadership decisions and actions that translate purpose and direction into tangible performance. Business leaders who achieve dynamic growth never underestimate the power of culture on the business, or the ability of culture to derail the company’s ambitious plans. These leaders know that culture is greatly influenced by their own actions, words, strategies and programs. Continue reading…

I watch the soap opera in Washington with great amazement and a bit of anxiety. Our leaders appear to be taking the country down a road filled with minefields. They speak with distain about Wall Street bankers who were about to drive the country off the cliff, yet fail to see that’s exactly where they could be heading – by creating waves of excessive spending, trillions in new debt, and political maneuvers designed to hide the truth from American citizens, voters, taxpayers.

Although candidate Obama argued for a bipartisan culture, his leadership has created something very different. In the past few weeks, the administration has heightened its attacks against its enemies: Continue reading…

Powerful results come from unlikely sources. How about looking at the potential and contributions of the youngest generation to enter the workforce, Gen Y, also known as the Millennials.

Gen Y is changing companies in very significant ways, proclaimed New York Times Columnist Lisa Belkin  Continue reading…