Tag Archives: leaders

30 Jan

Avoid Confusing Your Audience: Use Expressions Wisely

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What do Scottish kilts, machine gun ammunition, cement mixers, graves, and Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding dress all have in common? They are all purported to be tied to the origins of the expression “the whole nine yards.” I have heard and read emphatic declarations that the real origin is . . . you fill in the blank. According to the New York Times, which ran a story on this topic on December 26, there is no clear answer. (I guess it was a slow news day.) They went on to quote language expert Ben Zimmer, “The phrase is interesting because it’s so mysterious.” Whatever its origin, most people who are fluent in English know what it means. Since its meaning is clear and its origin is so muddled, it is probably a safe.

06 Dec

There’s No “We” in Accountability

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“How do we build a culture of accountability in our company?” That was a question one of my executive leadership coaching clients asked me recently. When I asked him what he meant by accountability, he had difficulty fully articulating what accountability meant to him. Finally, he said he wanted people to take ownership of their work and the results they produced. After we spent most of an hour exploring what was missing and what real accountability would look like, he made a bold statement. “The first thing I need to do to build more accountability is to stop talking about what we should do. I need to decide what I am going to do to be more accountable and promote accountability within my team.” It was as if a light came on for him. He realized that while we all want to foster accountability, we can’t. I can. He can. You can. Accountability happens when individuals take ownership, and that starts with individual leaders deciding to make it happen. Although my client had had a major breakthrough, he still had a big question to answer in the coming weeks, “How do I get started?”

02 Nov

Dodd-Frank Averts Parking Bubble – Beware of Unintended Consequences

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Thank goodness for the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Without it, parking might have become the next financial bubble to rock America. Last week I received an email from Parkmobile. They provide the service that allows consumers to use their smart phones to pay for parking at cities across America, rather than feeding parking meters. The email informed subscribers that the transaction fee they charge was increasing by nearly 40%, and the reason for this increase was… Wait for it. You guessed it – Dodd Frank. This law, which was intended to reign in Wall Street and prevent another financial crisis, has ensured that evil and greedy parkers around the country don’t bring down our economy with their reckless behavior.

27 Mar

A Serious Lack of Accountability

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Recently, I was listening to a reporter talk about the European financial crisis. She said, “The problem is, the Europeans have borrowed too much.” For some reason, this statement just struck me as wrong. It wasn’t that it was untrue. It just missed the point. The problem isn’t the borrowing per se. The problem is the underlying reason governments borrow so much – the spending. This may seem like an insignificant or meaningless distinction. Spending, borrowing, it’s all connected. The issue here is accountability, and that is what makes the two different. It’s easy to blame nameless, faceless politicians in Washington or the capitals of Europe for the debt crises. They irresponsibly kept raising the debt limits, which got them into this mess. They’ve borrowed so much money that the prospect of paying it back seems impossible.

08 Mar

Leaders Don’t Wait to Be Tapped

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When describing the design for the proposed monument honoring President Dwight Eisenhower, Washington Post cultural critic Philip Kennicott referred to it as “a relatively small representation of Eisenhower.” He went on to say that the small representation acknowledged that “there were many other men who could have done what he did, who would have risen to the occasion if they had been tapped.” When I read this in George Will’s column, Reasons to Like – and Honor – Ike, I was dumbfounded. I was struck by the naiveté and the disrespect that these words conveyed.

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Tag Archives: leaders

Avoid Confusing Your Audience: Use Expressions Wisely

There’s No “We” in Accountability

Dodd-Frank Averts Parking Bubble – Beware of Unintended Consequences

A Serious Lack of Accountability

Leaders Don’t Wait to Be Tapped

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