In school we were asked to answer questions and take tests. There were right and wrong answers, passing and failing grades. Because we're a product of our past experiences, we took this same framework into our adult experiences. We have goals and we judge ourselves on whether or not we can achieve our goals. Succeed or fail. Good or bad. Don't make a mistake; you might anger or disappoint others, or disappoint yourself. We then take a mistake or a failure and morph it into lack of confidence, lack of self-esteem, or feelings of not being good enough. Whoa! That's a dark hole. Let's not go there.

I was thrilled when I learned that Randy Dobbs, a friend and mentor from my days at General Electric, was writing a book about his leadership experiences. In the early 1990s I worked with Randy at GE Motors in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and then again at GE Medical Systems when I was in Philadelphia and he was in Atlanta. Randy was also an important advocate in my securing funding from GE so that I could attend the Wharton School of Business and get an MBA.

Randy's book, Transformational Leadership, is aptly titled because not only does Randy have a track record for transforming organizations for improved results but also for having a transformational effect on people's lives. Randy demonstrated his transformational "touch" throughout his tenure at GE, as CEO of Philips Medical Systems, North America and then as CEO of USIS, a leading global security services provider. His book is a mixture of real life stories of his personal achievements and travails along with information-rich examples of his professional successes and challenges. Here we review the five skills sets that Randy uses in defining transformational leadership:

Recently a client was telling me (complaining?) that a couple of her employees seemed to complain constantly. She felt that some of their complaints were valid but that the manner in which they voiced their issues were whiny and not constructive. That conversation reminded me of a blog posting on this subject that I would like to share. It is by Mike Rogers who is a talented teamwork and leadership coach and I always appreciate Mike's brevity and take-aways that are easy-to-remember. Enjoy!

Ugh! You know them, you don't like them and it's hard not to do the very thing you hate about them - whine about them. If you are like me you have had your share of whiny, negative and complaining employees. The type that roll their eyes every time a change comes. The kind that have wrinkles around their mouth that show years of continual frowns. The person who has exhibited amazing creativity around finding the negative in everything. Ugh!

Well, here are my top 3 ways to put the whining to a halt.

A Story of Employee Recognition

My friend is Sales Director with a clothing company. He is a talented talker and entertains major clients on a regular basis.

Last fall he was deputized while the CEO was on vacation and found an entry in his calendar that said "11:00 -12:00 Wander." The CEO's assistant clarified that it meant walking the production floor to talk with the hourly employees. "But I don't know what to say!" said the gifted talker.

Curiosity is the real key to uncovering performance that deserves recognition. Managing By Wandering About (MBWA) is a technique first recognized in the 1980's by quality guru Tom Peters. He found that some successful organizations got that way by encouraging managers to get out from behind their desks on a regular basis. With the emphasis on wandering, which is a slow process of following your nose, you will find yourself being drawn towards areas of the business you might not otherwise visit.

10 Tips for Getting More Done. 

The term "multitasking" was originally used to describe computers' parallel processing abilities. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the term began appearing on resumes as jobseekers restyled themselves into high-tech, high-performing team players.

In the business world, where time management is always a priority, multitasking skills are expected, especially in younger workers reared in multiple media environments (i.e., computers, iPods, iPhones, TV, video games, online social sites, texting and instant messaging).

Beginning in 2005, however, studies began to show that distractions negatively affected productivity and efficiency. A study funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the University of London's Institute of Psychiatry found that "workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers." The report termed this new "infomania" a serious threat to workplace productivity.

I'd like to introduce you to a radical new thought. In the old sales mindset, you've probably been trained to focus only on making the sale. You approach your cold calls with the idea of moving things towards a sales event.

But think about what this does to your cold calls. Before you even say "hello," you have an agenda. You want something. Your prospects can sense this immediately, and they put up their guard. As people, whenever we know that someone wants something from us, we automatically move into a defensive place. You probably do too if you're talking with someone who has an agenda.

Can you see that your sales focus actually destroys the possibility for a genuine, trusting conversation? It is focused on yourself and your desire for a sale and not on the other person.

I was in the Providence, Rhode Island airport, waiting for my flight home. All day I had been craving a burger, so I stopped at a restaurant that looked like it served a good cheeseburger. As I went to sit down, I saw that there wasn't an empty table, so I wandered around trying to find someone who looked like they would share their space. I saw a woman in business attire quietly eating her dinner so I approached her and asked if I could share her table. She nodded and I sat down and dove into my burger and fries. I took out a book and kept to myself, enjoying the prospect of some quiet time to read and relax. After just a minute or so, the woman said, "My son has cancer."

Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, feel like you have the gift of gab, or just don't know how to make small talk, networking know-how is very important for your business success. There is a notion in business that I believe most of us subscribe to that says all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those they know, like, and trust. And the key to this is obviously being able to develop relationships.

Think of networking as the cultivation of mutually beneficial, win-win relationships. In order to be win-win, there must be GIVE and take (notice the emphasis on give). Networking shouldn't be viewed as events where you go to sell your business. When effective networking is taking place, the parties involved actively share ideas, information, resources, etc.

Okay, so you know that you should be networking because it is one of the most cost-effective lead generation activities when used wisely, appropriately, and professionally. But, maybe that seems easier said than done. Here are seven steps to really get going with networking for your business.

I struggled for a while with whether or not to write a summary of this classic literary essay for fear of not doing it justice. However, my desire to introduce this writing to as many people as possible motivated me to proceed. This booklet, a seminal piece on the power of thought, is a mere 22 pages, yet it is so dense and packed with wisdom that it could have easily filled 500 pages had the author desired. James Allen was a British philosopher and writer as well as a pioneer of the self-help movement in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This work "As a Man Thinketh" is likely based on the Biblical verse Proverbs 23:7 which states: "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Over the years, businesses have embraced the fact that defining and having a strategic plan is an important component to long-term success. If you do not plan your direction, you cannot take control of your future. Many businesses are starting to be more aggressive in their strategic timetables. In addition to looking ahead three to five years and deciding where the organization needs and wants to be, more and more companies are becoming very aggressive in their short-term strategic analysis and review. With all the economic changes and uncontrollable outside distractions, looking through the short-term strategic lens more frequently is required.