August 8, 2010 by Ken Nowack
What’s my destiny, Momma? You’re gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re gonna get. Forrest Gump 1994 I feel like the proud parent sending their child off to college…..or leaving an organization for a new and hopefully better adventure…..For many, the [...]
August 1, 2010 by Ken Nowack
”There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” Roger Staubach The Leadership-Employee Engagement Connection I’m not sure that it’s any great secret that leaders influence the level of commitment and engagementof their talent. Nobody likes working for competent jerks–even if they accomplish a lot1. Our own published research has explored a reliable inventory of [...]
July 25, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Carl W. Buechner Do nice people finish first or is it last? Some recent research suggests that developing social skills and having accurate appraisal of our strengths and development areas might really pay off–really in dollars and cents. Ten [...]
June 20, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” W.C. Fields To our nieces and nephews who recently graduated and to all of our friends…. You are What You Believe…. by Denise and Ken Nowack Believe that most “breaks” and “luck” in life happen at the intersection of preparation and opportunity… Believe in [...]
June 13, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women.” Groucho Marx Gender differences in leadership have been studied for a long time. My own work suggests that men often possess that “no clue” gene relative to their female counterparts1. In fact, in our own 360-feedback studies, men [...]
May 23, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.” Anonymous We are raising our third guide dog puppy for the blind (Guide Dogs of America). He’s nearing the end of his journey with us and we will have him for about 4 to 6 more months. He came from the “A” [...]
May 16, 2010 by Ken Nowack
It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times. Mark Twain I don’t ever remember my parents telling me, “If at first you don’t succeed….try giving up.” Shouldn’t we persist or continue to pursue our goals in the face of extreme challenge or failure? I’m sure you have all heard the story of Edison (the [...]
May 2, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around.” Bill Watterson Despite a lot of press about how bad moods at work can be attributed to leader’s behavior, there has been limited direct research to support this hypothesizsed relationship–until now. We all know that leaders make a significant difference in talent enagement, retention and level of [...]
April 18, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it” Charles Kettering A growing research literature suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) may play an important role in career success and job performance above that of personality and cognitive ability (incremental ability). For example, a meta-analysis of 69 [...]
April 11, 2010 by Ken Nowack
“Don’t Confuse Facts with Reality.” Robert Ballard 1. According to a survey conducted at the 2009 World Economic Forum, 12% of the respondents said an inadequately trained workforce was a barrier in doing business in the U.S. This figure was 9.9 in the UK, 6.2 in China and 4.8 in India. 2. A survey of [...]