Fearless feedback Feedback — sometimes referred to as the infamous “F” word — does not need to be a heavy lift. Like anything else, it works when when we know how it works. It doesn’t have to be destined to create tension if we share it or tension if we don’t. …

Out of a sense of responsibility or prerogative, leaders and teams in organizations make and deploy decisions, large and small. Some turn out better than others — depending on how they are made. Even though many leaders and teams are untrained in decision making, success means decisions produce more solutions…

Organizational leaders who are more administrators and managers rather than entrepreneurs find that they at times need to talk about how important or imperative change is. Because they don’t have a strong aptitude or appetite for entrepreneurship, they in the meantime continue to support, demand, or allow structures that effectively…

Language matters because transformation is linguistic. How we talk about each other in organizations shapes the quality and productivity of our relationships. Because of our everyday language, we are more or less than the sum of our parts; we are smarter or struggling together. In pyramid language we talk about…

The Power of a Wholeness Mindset The mythology of self-improvement is deeply embedded in conventional work cultures as the holy grail of outcome improvements. Its premise is that we have deficiencies that need to be fixed in order for us to achieve improvements. If we want a better world, we…

If your organization values growth through new solutions for your markets, it needs to build an entrepreneurial organization. The magic and madness of an entrepreneurial spirit is probably what caused its initial eras of growth in the first place. Building an entrepreneurial organization happens in two ways. We teach people…

From “The Language of Trusted Leaders” (2021 Jack Ricchiuto, Nuance Works) Communication breakdowns are breakdowns in language. These include assumptions, excuses, disconnects, expectations, demands, criticisms, coercions, and denials. Assumptions In contrast to the factual nature of declarations, assumptions don’t require evidence of fact. People can present assumptions as expectations, speculations…

To be human is to make up stories. We compose stories to make sense of our patterns of action — our action tendencies. Our stories are crafted to explain why we do what we do on both sides of success and failure. We weave stories explaining why something we did…

I’ve spent a long time being engaged as the “expert” in all things leadership and group performance at many corporate and community tables. To be exact, in dozens of industries and geographies over the past 44 years. …