Author: Dennis Stratton

Posted on by Dennis Stratton

Change Leadership…3

(the third in an ongoing series exploring the changing nature of leading change) If you don’t like change, you will like irrelevance even less. ~ General Eric Shinseki Change before you have to.. ~ Jack Welch I believe leadership in this company has identified a legitimate need for change Why change?; What’s driving the change? [Read More…]
Posted on by Dennis Stratton

Change Leadership … 2

(the second in an ongoing series exploring the changing nature of leading change) Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge. ~ Winston Churchill I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes [Read More…]
Posted on by Dennis Stratton

Change Leadership

An ongoing series exploring the changing nature of leading change “The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and preserve change amid order.” ∼  Alfred North Whitehead Both/And More than 25 years ago, John Kotter observed that leading and managing are unique and complementary systems of action. *Based on “What Leaders Really Do,” [Read More…]
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Signals Matter in Change

iPhones distributed to the salesforce. Time clock destroyed in the lobby with a bat. Moving senior leadership offices to the same floor. Moving senior leaders out of offices and onto main floor. Spending authority increased to $2000 for every client-facing employee. Sacred cows slaughtered at every turn. When employees are faced with the task of [Read More…]
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Really Important Questions

The work environment today continues to be uncertain, ever-changing and can (if not prepared) knock the most confident individual “off their horse”. I am currently working in one of the most rapidly growing businesses in the world – a literal case study at Harvard Business School – and yet despite the world of potential, I [Read More…]
Posted on by Dennis Stratton

If You Want To Change Your Culture, Start With Shaking It To Its Core!

A recently appointed CEO found himself overwhelmingly concerned about the condition of his service company, as it contained employees who didn’t get service. Almost immediately upon taking over, the CEO did the unthinkable: he told the unvarnished truth. In addition to citing the lack of consistent leadership, he said: “We have a culture that’s lost [Read More…]
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Brutal Honesty

“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” (Thomas Paine, American colonist, patriot, and revolutionary)

 As a leader, the quality of the information available to you in any process directly impacts the quality of the outcomes you can achieve.

 So the more eyes and minds that deliver information that is more candid and brutally honest, [Read More…]
Posted on by Dennis Stratton

3 Leadership Musts

As a leadership coach, consultant and trainer, I have the great opportunity to spend my time immersed in leadership. I think about it all the time. I notice leadership everywhere – good and bad. I engage in discussion about it – at work with clients, on social media with leadership experts, in my community and [Read More…]
Posted on by Dennis Stratton

Standards of Excellence: Jargon or Real?

Excellence. How should a company assess, develop and institutionalize excellence in their organization’s DNA? Too often I find myself inside a company’s walls reading placards and posters declaring one’s commitment to excellence yet in the same moment look around and find trash on the ground, employees disheveled in appearance, people complaining about their “unresponsive” colleague, [Read More…]