Your Meeting of the Year

When are you going to have your best meeting of the year?   Next week?  Next month? 4th Quarter?

I may have already had mine the day before yesterday.  I set out in 2013 with the goal of more coffee and lunch meetings with more creative people to network, brainstorm, and gain ideas from to help kickstart the year.  And my meeting with Nicholas McGill, an acquaintance I've not seen for several years, ended up providing me with more value and inspiration than I ever imagined.

We have the potential to help each other with connections, business opportunities, and personal goal achievement--and it made me wonder why I let several years go by without reaching out to him.  We have our next meeting already on the calendar to follow up on the areas where we might be able to help one another.

In case you're wondering, this extremely bright talented young man runs his own company here in Northern California, Heroik Media, and has a team working with him transforming businesses, people, and heck--who knows, maybe the world next.  Watch Nicholas' two-minute video introduction--you won't be disappointed and it might inspire you to:

• Consider how you tell the world who you are
• Consider who you are in the first place
• Consider reaching out to Nicholas via email
• Consider that next coffee or lunch meeting you schedule.

When will be your best meeting of the year?

Did You Arrive at a Consensus? Oh-oh

Everyone likes to make nice.  To get along.  To get agreement.

But in this rush, the group may not "flush" out all the issues.

The leader's job is to encourge conflict, debate, and healthy disagreement.  Only when this happens can the leader be sure that she has drug out enough conflict in order to flush out bad alternatives--and gain commitment around the final (best) outcome.

What's Your Company Culture?

Innovative? Risk averse? Customer centric? Entrepreneurial?

There's a culture within your company.  Your people reflect it--and the leader at the top sets it.  Are you WHO you want your customers to experience?  Why or why not? 

If the answer to your question isn't what you think is right--ask your customers.  They'll tell you.  But deep inside--you really know, don't you? 

Most great companies are really clear about this--and at the end of the day--their customers are (1) at the top of the org charts, (2) in the center of everyone's efforts and focus, and (3) why the company exists.

Are you there?  Is your customer?