Cheryl A. Bachelder's Blog, page 11

Warning: Toxic Workplace

I am a book junkie. If you visit my home, there are certain rooms, like my home office, that are literally overflowing with books. Even my work office has at least 100 books in it. So it will not surprise you that on this Sunday afternoon, I am scanning the books available on Amazon.com.

I put the words “toxic workplace” in the search engine looking for one particular book. And to my surprise, a long list of books popped up, starting with these three:

Toxic Workplace! Managing Toxic Personal...

Promises, Promises

The best CEO I worked for in my career was at RJR Nabisco; his name, Lou Gerstner. He was exceptionally smart and exceptionally principled. I watched his leadership closely and found many lessons that would guide my career over the years. So when he was selected to be CEO of IBM in April of 1993, I watched with great interest.

At the time, IBM was called a “dysfunctional company” in Business Week magazine [1]. IBM had lost money for three quarters. Its stock had fallen 75% in 6 years. The cul...

Focused or Flailing?

Apparently our human minds can only remember three or four things at once. Psychologists at the University of Missouri published a paper in 2008 entitled “An assessment of fixed-capacity models of visual working memory.”*Up until this study, most researchers thought we could remember seven things at once – like the seven digits in our phone numbers. Instead, it turns out our minds have much more limited capability.

This academic finding is consistent with my life experience in organizations:...

Which Way?

It is Friday night and I am headed to LaGuardia airport in New York City– in the borough of Queens. The traffic is heavy. It is raining, and chances are good flights will be delayed.

If you have ever traveled through a major airport on a Friday night, you know this feeling. Your head has a slight throb, your teeth are gritted tight, and you are bracing for the worst. The likelihood of getting to your destination without complications– near zero.

But imagine this: what if I arrive at this busy...

My Favorite Things

One of my favorite childhood movies wasThe Sound of Music. I think it may have been the catalyst for my lifelong love of music. Maybe I was a romantic at the age of 9, but I can’t think of a more beautiful scene in a movie than where Julie Andrews sings “My Favorite Things.” As she sings “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,” her joy is contagious.

A few weeks ago I attended the meeting where my leadership team gives me feedback from the annual employee engagement survey. This is where...

Do You Love the People You Lead?

For over 18 years, I’ve been in a leadership position with small business owners, the franchisees who invest in and run restaurants. Let me share with just five things that are annoying about a small business owner:

They have a lot of emotion and relatively few facts. They always want some special favor. They never trust the franchisor leader. They are quick to anger and slow to forgive. They always defend their people, even when they are wrong.

This was basically the worldview when we bega...

Who Matters Most?

When I joined Popeyes in 2007, my first day was the international franchising conference in Orlando, Florida. As you would expect, on my first day I was brimming with excitement and anticipation about this challenging new leadership opportunity. This would be my first chance to meet the Popeyes franchise owners – the people who own virtually all of our restaurants – the entrepreneurs who have made Popeyes their livelihood. Certainly, they would be excited to meet me too?

It didn’t take long t...

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

I’ve only been a waitress once, for one day. I was sixteen years old and had just passed my driver’s test on the second try. Excited to have the independence my age deserved, I realized I would need money for gas. It was time to get a job.

Applications submitted. Interviews complete. I found my job as a waitress in a nursing home in Cupertino, California. Eagerly I reported to work on the first day as a dining room waitress. A notebook and pencil thrust into my hand, I went onto the floor to...

Your Attitude Is Your Altitude

Last night I enjoyed a dinner conversation with a Popeyes leader who oversees more than a dozen restaurants.In our chat, we were reflecting on how grateful we both were for the momentum in our business – and how blessed we felt to be a part of this company. I was so impressed with this person’s genuine love of the restaurant business. It led me to ask him to share a bit about his family history.

He told me about his grandparents.He had spent summers with them – working the land.Learning what...

Is Leadership An Extreme Sport?

My father was my encourager in life. If I wanted to try something new, he was all for it. He was my greatest fan and his encouragement made me feel special. I only have one memory of my father saying a discouraging thing – and that was at my tumbling class when I was 7 years old.

He had watched me struggle painfully for over an hour of attempted somersaults and cartwheels. My tall, lean body was awkward and stiff, while the other petite girls flipped and whirled with ease.

My dad pulled me asid...