“Our ultimate freedom is the right and the power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us” (Dr Steven R Covey) When confronted by significant differences of opinion with others, aggressive communication, or manipulative forms of behaviour, particularly from those in more senior positions, many employees are overwhelmed and overcome – they…
A sedentary lifestyle is often characterised by sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like socializing, watching TV, playing video games, reading, or using a mobile phone or computer for much of the day. A sedentary lifestyle contributes to poor health quality, diseases, and preventable causes of death. Applying the word ‘sedentary’ to…
We often make or break relationships with, and subsequent loyalty from, customers by the subtle and sometimes not so subtle messages that we convey to them. Customers want to be treated with dignity and respect, be understood, get good value from purchases and feel that there is a good connection with supplier employees. Treating customers…
Most customers don’t care about you – they don’t care how good you proclaim to be. They feel nothing about the average experience and knowledge of your employees and they are really not that impressed with some of your veiled promises. Almost all customers want to experience great customer service and not just hear about…
The newly-appointed CEO to a giant retailer sat down with his executive team to go through the finances of the group. Pouring through the budget, they came upon a line item with a large associated “expense”. The CEO questioned the number and the finance chief responded: “Shrinkage is included in the budget for theft. Our…
It is true that if you are a successful leader and respected as such by colleagues and other employees alike, many will not only aspire to be like you, but may also indeed crave your position or at least your role. Managing healthy admiration by members of your team is one thing; managing obsessive craving…
The temptation to set stretch targets to achieve company goals within a short period of time is indeed something that the most realistic of leaders cannot resist. There is, however, a certain limit to which such change initiatives can be actualised as real solutions, as most complex problems are hardly going to be solved within…
It had been a long day for the New York City taxi driver and he was really looking forward to a shower and bed. The evening traffic had been busy and he was tired – he was satisfied with the day’s takings, but he now needed a rest after whisking couples off to restaurants and…
Globalisation, made possible over the past half-century through more speedy and efficient forms of travel (commuting intercontinentally) and telecommunications (mobile technology and fast data transfer through the internet), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies and governments all over the world. S Guttal (Globalisation, Development in Practice) notes: “As a complex and…
So many managers seem to switch off the possibility of perceptual internal data-roaming when they arrive at the office. Oh yes, they allow incoming calls from clients, digest information at meetings and give people instructions, but fail to permit their internal “data cards” to pick up and receive important company culture, behavioural or relational employee…
“And the soul is like the eye: when resting upon that which is truth and being shine, the soul perceives and understands and is radiant with intelligence; but when turned towards the twilight of becoming and perishing, then she has opinion only and goes blinking about and is first of one opinion and then of…
Many idioms referring to human behaviour are based on analogies to parts of the body, especially arms, hands and fingers (e.g.: to keep one’s fingers crossed, all hands on deck, elbow room, to be on hand, keep her at arm’s length, he is all thumbs, he would not lift a finger, give someone a free…
