“I seek dead people” My wife is an amateur genealogist. She spends her retirement researching her extended, extended family. She is a detail person, a puzzler, a rigorous researcher, and a writer. She uses all her skills pursuing records of her long dead relatives. Giving gifts to support her passion is a challenge. I’ve considered […]

“Consultant, eh? Good money for old rope!” It was my first day on-site, at my first consulting project. I was still in business school. Angus, this sixty-year-old Cheshire truck manufacturing manager was communicating his experience with consultants. I wasn’t completely oblivious. I did know it wasn’t positive experience. I may have asked him to explain […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" My inner thirteen-year-old boy spit Mountain Dew everywhere when I came up with this title, but he thinks it is u201cway better than u2018Self-Leadershipu2019 – boring!u201d u00a0Every act of leadership is first an act of self-leadership. Leading change starts with u201ctaking yourself in hand,u201d (snicker, snicker). n Change requires leaders n I […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The trail began in a yellow green wood. n u201cDonu2019t get your feet wet!u201d My mother admonished as I leaped across a trickle-stream not bothering with the log bridge. n Was I six? Seven? Iu2019m pretty sure it was before Cub Scouts and that was eight. The leaves had just started to […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" Sell is a four-letter word n Salespeople get a bad rap. The salesperson stereotype, is a gladhanding mental lightweight with a u201csmile and a shoeshine,u201d the u201cgift of gabu201d and questionable ethics, who can talk anyone into anything, u201csell a cape to Superman, hay to a farmer, or snowballs in Alaska.u201d New […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" I awoke this morning with Jeff Foxworthy on my mind. Foxworthy is a stand-up comedian, a part of the Blue Collar Comedy tour, the author of four books, an actor in thirteen movies and thirty-six television shows and series, and counting. What I remember him for is the way he created humor […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" u201cFred?u201d n u201cYes, Shishya?u201d n u201cWhy, do you live here?u201d n u201cAh, Shishya, the mountains are a transition between earth and sky. How else can the seeker find change but by traversing transition?u201d n u201cBut Fred, the path up here is so strenuous.u201d n u201cShishya, Shishya, the road to change is always […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The Trial n I was called for jury duty three times in two years always in spring or fall consulting busy-season. n u201cSo just when would be a good time for you, Mr. Culler.u201d n u201cIu2019m free the three days before Thanksgiving, your honor.u201d n u201cFine. The clerk will schedule you. Next.u201d […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" In the beginning n I started as a consultant in 1980. I retired from consulting in 2018, a lifer in the industry. To say the consulting industry changed a lot during my career is quite an understatement n Consulting always involves change- new customer needs, new strategy, new operating processes, new technology, […]

<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" Historians and Visionaries n One looks back and crafts a story from events; one looks forward and crafts events from a story. n To lead in times of dramatic change is to be a see-er (seer), to both scribe and scry. This leader peers back through the brume and draws forth past […]