Revenue was low. There had been layoffs, several rounds.  The industry everywhere was struggling. And morale? Really, really, really low. The executive team was working toward a vision they believed in, but engagement was slipping badly. They sat in a meeting, trying to figure out how to use next week’s all-staff retreat to boost morale […]

Sometimes mystery shows up right in your hotel room. I was sitting in the Redwood City, CA Sofitel, going over the notes for a workshop on transformational conflict I’m co-facilitating tomorrow with my spirited colleague Nick Rothenberg.  I was thinking about the game we created this spring to entice a group of leaders to tackle huge […]

I’ve noticed something. There is a certain shared quality I’ve seen across several of the groups I’ve worked with lately: people learning to drop down into a difficult conversation in an open, clear, productive way; groups willing to take risks together as they take on a challenging task; and several simply excellent leaders of people. […]

The secret to rocking the house with these little bits of delish is to use surprisingly good ingredients. Here’s how to cook up the prize requested by the winning team of the experimental Conflict Skill-Building Game.

I, as my British colleagues say with classic understatement, am chuffed. This week was the finish line for a big experiment, the 28-day competitive conflict-skills-building game I’ve been running with a client group. The experiment succeeded well beyond my expectations. (For those of you just tuning in, catch the backstory in the Game On: Conflict competition […]

It’s been 48 hours, and you probably haven’t thought about anything but who scored what during Week 3. Who’s going to get that dessert? What’s it going to be? Let me put an end to your sleepless nights. (At least some of them.) Here’s where we landed.

Since I am the self-appointed point fairy in this game, YOU all now have 100 extra bonus points. Here’s what happened in Week 2 of the game, and how I used your playful, insightful ideas to spice up Weeks 2 and 3.

I’ve just started a boisterous 4-week experiment with a client, and I could use your help. The idea came from my dental hygienist. She had a life-altering experience playing Game On!, the competitive health and fitness game invented by hilariously irreverent Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson of Gray’s Anatomy. “It was hard, it was a […]

OK, that might be overselling it. But just a bit. It’s early in the morning and I needed to get your attention. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream,” not “I have a plan.” That’s what caught MY attention about Simon Sinek’s TEDx talk. Simon offers a simple but galvanizing idea:

Ever start what begins as a reasonable political discussion with your parents… and 15 minutes later find yourself hip-deep in a mucky, confusing swirl, dreadfully off-topic and surprisingly upset? This doesn’t just crop up at the dinner table, on the telephone, or with your family. Sometimes it happens smack in the middle of your team’s […]