How much do you really know …

This anecdote has been told before.  I heard it again last week and struck by how powerful the lesson still is. The CEO of a global freight company often travels to many cities. In lieu of having a fancy limo pick him up, he has a randomly picked local truck driver from his company pick him up from the airport to take him to his hotel.

Workplace Gift: Real Conversations

I have the awesome role of observing people in all kinds of roles in the workplace. I sit in on meetings, conference calls, one-on-ones, executive meetings, board meetings, planning sessions, lunches and dinners in dozens of companies from all industries and sizes. In all these day to day time-consuming activities, conversations are universal. One person or more is sharing their perspective on a business matter. Styles are very different but the substance of all them is essential the same. They are mostly transactional, as required in many cases, which is a great disguise for communicating either the real thoughts/emotions or being vulnerable. This is a shame because little progress is often made and decisions take much longer. More importantly, the great passionate and innovative solutions are suppressed. I share these observation often and they are met with the question “so how should we be talking?”