I was on a phone call earlier this week with a client who has 40 employees. He told me about the sudden resignation of one his long-time managers. Here’s the story he shared with me.

“Last week at our quarterly management meeting, one of my key operations managers turned in his resignation. As we discussed the issue, he said all the extra pressure was too much for him to handle. I was thinking to myself, we haven’t even given him any more work to do. All we did was clarify expectations and improve our communication...   

The Core Focus clearly defines your company’s sweet spot – work you love to do and are best at. Used properly, it helps you stay laser-focused on the stuff you do that most consistently delights your customers, makes you money, and allows you to have the most fun. To get it right, you’ve got to resist the temptation to try being all things to all people, and to ignore “shiny stuff.”

This sounds easy, but is often very hard, and surprisingly costly. One of my clients admitted this last week – and the story was so good I asked him to write a guest blog on the subject. Enjoy…

I recently read an article in Fortune about Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. This article focused on Tim and his leadership approach (Fortune voted him the best leader in the world this year).

In the article, Tim shares about his thoughts on culture or the core of a company. I liked his take on it. He said, “The culture of a company to me defines how excellent it will be, how helpful it will be, how ambitious it will be, how innovative it will be. But, if there’s self-honesty in the culture, [it also defines], how quick it is to admit the mistakes that every company makes. There is a whole set of things. Does the company have integrity or not? Does a company desire to do something more important than simply make money? Is there a reason for being, and do the employees really get the reason for being?”

Trust in Teams Is Fundamental For Their Success

But what does trust really imply? Here Patrick Lencioni, best-selling author, consultant and expert on building winning teams, discusses the importance of trust and the difference between predictive trust and vulnerability-based trust within a company.

Lesson #7: Leadership Lessons from the Cockpit

I used to be a bit intimidated by Air Traffic Control (ATC). I believed they were the ultimate authority for each flight, and I went to great lengths to always follow their instructions. But as I gained a better understanding of my roles and responsibilities in the air, I realized that I’m the one ultimately accountable for the safety of each flight. That means sometimes questioning or refusing ATC’s direction. Consider these examples: