In this posting, I build on the October 7 blog, in which Steve Wolinski introduced Diana Whitney’s, Kae Rader’s and my book, Appreciative Leadership: Focus on What Works to Drive Winning Performance and Build a Thriving Organization. Expanding upon Steve’s clear summary of our book’s content, I provide some history behind the approach and the design of the text, along with more detail about the five core strategies that together unleash positive power.

What is a strategic decision, and how is it different from an operational or tactical decision? Strategic decisions determine the grand direction upon which an entity will embark. Always, strategy precedes action. The object of strategy is to bring about advantageous conditions within which action will occur. In the military context, this means positioning forces …

If you Google how long it takes to form a habit, you’ll get anything from 21 to 28 days, but there is no solid evidence on what the answer really is. We all agree though, that an acquired behavior pattern takes customary practice or usage – which in plain-speak means – do it every day …

At the Fresh Tracks office we recently got together as a team look at the issue of trust. It made me realise how much we take trust for granted when it’s there, and how much extra work a lack of trust can create. Although our session included event managers, admin staff and senior managers, it …

A professor in grad school used to take pride in humiliating students, presumably to teach the students how to handle tough questions they may be asked about their research. It was a brutal process to watch. Perhaps you work with bosses or co-workers who do this. We run into various sharp objects in our work …

There are many elements in the environment of a project, and ‘organisation’ is one of the most important. Organisational decisions can encompass wide-ranging aspects, such as partnerships, key supplier and sub-contracting relationships and responsibilities within a project – and that’s the key word: “responsibilities”. Making responsibilities clear at the practical working level, perhaps phase by …

Boards need to discuss horrible ideas: the idea that your product might no longer be relevant to your target market, the idea that your staff might prefer to work elsewhere, or that your technology might leave you unable to deliver goods and services. These are not issues that management like to talk about and, indeed, …

Proactive social media monitoring by H&R Block stops a potential crisis in its tracks We’ve seen several examples of employees sabotaging their employers via social media, the most infamous of which may have been the YouTube video showing a pair of Dominos employees doing various disgusting things to customer’s food. Perhaps as a result of …

The Divine Art of Comedy: Timing in Public Relations Timing is everything, like any old Catskill comic, successful business person, and even Ecclesiastes — a book in the Bible — will tell you. Cliched? Absolutely. And mostly true. As the good book says, “To everything there is a season” — including (if you extrapolate enough) …

In considering the creation of a corporate solicitation program (a CSP), the first questions I’d ask of a nonprofit is whether they realize that only five-percent of all “charitable” giving to nonprofits comes from corporations, and (considering “return-on-investment”) how much of their time, energy and assets do they want to dedicate to this effort? Whether …