Millenials have been taking a beating lately in what passes for our wellsprings of social commentary. It may be a legit opinion in countries that continue to abide a caste system or accept clan and tribal conflict as just. However, in the West, especially in a nation that continues to have example after example in which […]
Category Archives: Champion of Change
January
01
Welcome to the new Millenial(s) – 4 Ways The Generation Gap Can Be Leaped
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
December
12
What’s Your Resolution?
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
The origin of making new plans for the coming New Year revolve around the human desire to make changes to their life and the lives of others. A key component of this is possessing the self-awareness trait that we have discussed here many times. At The Jersey, this seems like an opportunity to start the discussion about […]
September
19
Reinvention
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
An astute user of Google or Amazon can very quickly tap into a variety of sources that lay out a virtual Yellow Brick Road towards a new beginning, a fresh start, or a makeover of one’s very essence. Don’t like your friends – get new ones! Hate your job – screw it, and start over! In […]
July
29
Sacred Cow-Tipping
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
At the top of the Leader Frustration List is without a doubt the change-killer known as the Sacred Cow. While the cow comes in many colors and sizes, it can best be identified as the obstacle sitting squarely in the path of progress. No leader, old or new, is without their story of a great […]
July
13
If Every Day Was A New Day
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
This month I have had the opportunity to spend some quality time at the largest military maritime exercise in the world. If there is anything consistent about coordinating over 50 ships from 22 countries, it is how important the ability to communicate becomes in such an operating environment. My piece of the show involves working in […]
May
18
Transfusion Is A Good Thing
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
Transfusion is most frequently associated with the process by which blood is introduced into a human being (EDITOR NOTE: The author’s medical skills and knowledge extend to generally responding appropriately to burns or cuts, accessing Web-MD, and calling 911). The purposes can be under planned or unexpected circumstances, to either replace the loss of blood, or […]
May
09
When The Heart Of Darkness Beats For You
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
If you work in an organization big enough or wide enough to have at least two different locations, Theorem 1 of the Colonel Kurz Theory of Probability is that some percentage of one office think that, generally, there is something wrong with the people in the other office. If the organization is big enough to have […]
April
17
Practice
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
The full-on effective use of leadership skills on a regular, consistent, and conscious basis, is a state of mind that is rarely viewed in the same light as the higher level display of skills for things that are physical in nature. Playing the piano, operating on a human brain, or throwing a baseball 60 feet […]
March
09
What’s in a Leadership Culture?
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
We have spent a great deal of time discussing important matters of personal leadership behavior, how to demonstrate it, who benefits, and why. This gives rise to wondering how many leaders committed to their art are practicing it in an atmosphere akin to the wilderness? Seriously, if you are alone on your team in having an interest in this […]
December
22
Culture vs. People
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
In my morning newspaper today was a story about the hometown college football team who suspended the quarterback for the rest of the season for violating a team rule. While this may not be a higher order “man bites dog” story, I was struck by a number of elements to the drama. The player in […]
October
17
Your Own Kobayashi Maru – Leadership in a Crisis
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
For the Trekkie‘s amongst you, the K-Maru scenario has been fodder for uncountable arguments. In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Maru is a training simulation every Star Fleet cadet is put through. In essence, the decisions available to the student are all “no-win” and the entire exercise is about how you come to terms with […]
September
29
When You Don’t Own It
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
“Just own it”. Which is of course the opposite of “Just do it”. One requires accountability while the other requires initiative. One without the other can lead to either some pretty radical explosions, or a pet rock. From the perspective of a leader, there is no shortage of books, articles, and other assorted media devoted […]
What Happens When The Music Stops? – Managing Conflict
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
One of the most critical moments for an organization is that point when a crisis looms. It might be brought on by a resource issue, and hard decisions had to be made about the way forward. Or, it could be because the organization just spent some time trying to figure out what was value added and what was […]
When Change Hurts
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
If you take the King’s shilling, as the quote goes, “you do the King’s bidding”. When the King starts to run out of shillings, things start to happen. One of the likely and predictable consequences of having a lesser number of shillings is the possibility that there might need to be a smaller organization in […]
How Resilient Is Your Organization?
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
Social psychologists generally define resilience as the human capacity to remain both flexible and strong in the midst of ambiguity, stress, and change. The “resilient” person perseveres by showing above average ability to remain positive, focused, flexible, organized and proactive. According to researchers at the National Mental Health Institute, the answer to human resiliency might […]
The Groundhog Day Effect – Professional Presence
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
One of the usual phenomena of a “career” is the inevitable conclusion that you have done this before. Whether it is an assignment, or a situation, or simply the mood you bring into the office, everyone reaches a point where something seems pretty familiar. It is not surprising then that our response follows the same […]
Change Champion?
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
Chances are you may have been a change champion in your path to leadership. It’s hard to be the opposite (The Change Killer?…Darth Change?) since change is a part of any organization. My first experience with someone really distilling the organizational effects of change on the individual was Spencer Johnson’s book from 15 years ago […]
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