How Outcome Based Decision Making Can Get You Through a Crisis
One of the unfortunate facts of life is that, more often than not, we’re forced to make some of our most important decisions under pressure. Whether that pressure comes from time constraints, high emotion or some kind of crisis, it’s just not a good time to successfully arrive at good decisions. But whether you like it or not, there’s a good chance that at some point in either your personal or professional life, you will be confronted with tough choices under less than ideal circumstances.
Pluck and Persistence Will Drive Your Story into the News
Every company and organization has an interesting story to tell. Finding news and honing it into a finely crafted pitch is the first challenge. You want to make sure you’re “selling” the best “product” that you can. Here are a few factors to consider when it comes to what makes news, well, ‘news’. Once you’ve got your story down, the next step is to convince a reporter or editor that it has a place on a newspaper page as opposed to remaining lonely and forgotten on your organization’s blog.There are many ways to do this.
How to Lead Like a Pioneer
A few weeks ago, I took a road trip through Oregon and got a firsthand look at how the philosophy of the state’s early pioneers continues to influence that culture of leadership in Oregon to this day. During my trip, I traveled down the coast (pirates!), inland through a State Forest (Tillamook!), and then wrapped up our brief trip with some urban adventures in Portland (craft everything!). Through conversations, news, museums, universities, and various other sound bites, I learned about the pioneer culture of Oregon and how such a philosophy still informs and inspires the community to this day.
The Elements of an Effective News Story
Ever wonder why a spate of deadly car crashes makes the front page (or leads-off the news hour) while announcements about a new social enterprise that employs people with mental illness tend to get buried? It’s all connected to how “newsworthy” a story is considered by the editorial/production staff. Each day, thousands of producers and editors around the country are forced to rank what’s worth paying attention to and what they can safely ignore.
How to Bridge the Gap between Research and Action
Go to any academic journal and pull up a random scientific article. Can you understand it? Chances are you will probably not understand all of it. Even if you do understand all of it (yes, even including the statistical analysis section), do you understand how this relates to the dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of other articles done on the same subject? And equally as important, do you have the time to sift through stacks of articles to make an informed decision on a program, policy or service you are considering implementing in either your private or professional life? Herein lies the value of knowledge translation.
Social Change Leadership
On Thursday I participated in an awesome staff retreat with my very awesome teammates. One of the many themes of discussion for the day was the Social Change Model of Leadership, made popular (at least within circles of higher education) by Susan Komives and her community of practice.
The Inspiring World of Adult Education
Last Friday, I got a chance to witness the hefty emotions and cathartic experience that graduation frequently elicits in people. It was a scene that I missed during my own graduation from high school thirteen years ago. When I graduated…
How to Understand and Engage Introverts
Full disclosure, I’m an extrovert. My lovely, talented and tolerant wife, Michelle, claims that she’s an “amnivert” but is probably an introvert (we’re all a bit of both, right?) – in fact, Michelle absolutely has a suitcase full of books.
How to Give a Memorable Speech
Says* Jerry Seinfeld: “You know, I just read this survey that said the number one fear of Americans is public speaking. The number two fear is death. [INSERT SUBTLE LAUGHTER FROM AUDIENCE]. So, let me get this straight. This means…
The Interview: Opening Doors to a Workplace Community
Getting into a challenging, dynamic, rewarding, organized, and fun workplace community is a tricky business. For a myriad of reasons, competition is as intense as it’s ever been, and job seekers around the world are in tough competition when it…