Rodger Dean Duncan's Blog, page 8

Digital Age Rules: Ignore Them at Your Own Peril

In today’s fast-paced world, running a successful business requires more agility, consumer focus, and innovation than ever. Whether you sell shoes, computers, groceries, or even intangibles like online courses, the digital age can either propel you to boom or bust. Your choice.

And guess what. Winning in the digital age is actually less about how you use technology than about how you use your brain.

Ram Charan understands this better than most, and he turns conventional principles on their head ...

Build Trust, Connection in a Work-from-Anywhere World

Digital communication, we were told, would save us time and strengthen relationships.

It seems the jury is still out on how that’s really working.

Sure, sending a brief text or email can be quicker than playing phone tag. But there are risks.

Occasionally the miscue is simply a typo, like the time I began an email with “Hell, Bob”—which could have come across as disgust, when what I intended to type was a friendly “Hello, Bob.” Oops. Fortunately, Bob responded with a chuckle.

In our new work-fro...

Grab the Helm: Purpose, Passion, Progress

I recently enjoyed a lively and informative webinar featuring my friend Ed Schein. Ed is professor emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management and wrote several of the ground-breaking books in the fields of career development and organizational culture.

In the webinar, Ed talked in detail about the roles of trust and humility in personal leadership. He spoke with the enthusiasm of a bright graduate student. He fielded questions with the finesse of a seasoned presenter (which he is). His intel...

Want Better Results? Unclutter Your Goals and Your Work

When was the last time you heard someone complaining about not being busy enough?

Never.

We’re all busy. But busyness comes in many forms. And most of us know that busyness is not necessarily synonymous with producing the results we really want.

Greg McKeown is an expert in defining and refining goals, then simplifying the path to achievement. His latest book is titled Effortless: Make It Easy to Do What Matters. 

In the first part of this conversation, Greg explained how to deal with outdated g...

Here Are Some Smart Ways to Work Smarter

Management guru Peter Drucker had a knack for aphorisms that stop you in your tracks. One of my favorites is “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Ouch! Been there, done that.

When mapping out my plans for each day, I ask myself “Does this project or activity really matter? Does it advance any cause that I value? Does it get me closer to any of the goals or outcomes that I’m seeking?” If the answer is no, I move on.

But here’s a catch. I sometim...

Power Moms: Useful Skills at Home and in the Office

Let’s begin with this stipulation: the term “working mother” is redundant.

It’s typically used innocently enough—like “added bonus,” “each and every,” “difficult dilemma,” and “new innovations.” But those redundant phrases are simply careless use of language. The term “working mother” is not only careless language, it’s potentially insulting. After all, what mother doesn’t work?

Okay, I got that off my chest.

Now let’s consider some issues with moms who, in addition to their at-home parenting ro...

For Career Success, Pay Attention to the ‘Unspoken Rules’

Some people spend much of their lives—especially in the workplace—navigating unspoken rules.

You know, those cultural guidelines that never appear in a published handbook and rarely even come up in conversation. Everyone just seems to “know” the rules, so they’re simply followed.

Over time, the unspoken rules become fossilized as unchallenged traces of the past.

Many unspoken rules may be innocuous, while others may smack of unconscious bias or other blind spots that can impact performance.

Iden...

Human Connection: Stand Out in a Zoom-Fatigued World

[image error]If we’ve been reminded of anything during the Covid pandemic, it’s that—for most of us—genuine connection with other people is a critical need of the human species.

Unfortunately, in our new world of virtual business meetings, a lot of people apparently missed the memo. “Zoom fatigue” is a real thing. It’s caused by the cognitive demands of video conferencing. As social distancing keeps people apart physically, the Internet is abuzz with hundreds of millions of virtual meetings every day.

But th...

For Culture Change: Think ‘Renovate,’ Not ‘Transform’

Even for people who were once skeptical about business issues that aren’t tangible, culture’s critical role in an organization’s success is no longer up for debate.

Culture matters. It affects every behavior and every performance metric in the workplace.

Kevin Oakes understands that more than most. He’s CEO and co-founder of the Institute for Corporate Productivity, and he’s invested a career in studying and measuring the role culture plays in organizational success. He shares his insights in Cu...

So, You Want to Lead? Lift Where You Stand

As you’ve no doubt heard countless times, effective leadership is not about title or the location of your box on the organization chart. It’s not about the authority you wield. Or your family pedigree. Or the school you attended. Or any other demographic data point.

Effective leadership—especially extraordinary leadership—is all about strategic influence. Strategic influence on self-development and strategic influence with the people around you.

Nobody understands this better than James M. Kouze...