Posts by Mike Baer
Thriving IN Chaos
THRIVING IN CHAOS Quite a number of years ago, management guru, Tom Peters, wrote a book entitled Thriving on Chaos. The thrust was how to navigate the whitewater of constant and ever-accelerating change in a way that brings innovation and greater success. It is a great read and still appropriate for today. I’d like to…
Read MoreGo Big or Go Home!
I keep hearing people talk about getting back to “business as usual.” I’d like to make a plea for business as UN-usual. We’re coming out of a terrible season, no doubt. Pandemic. Politics. Riots in the cities. Violence in the capitol. And it’s going to be very natural to come out from under our rocks…
Read MoreEnding a Hard Year
It’s hard to come up with a “non-trite” way of saying this so, I’ll just say it. To most of us, 2020 has been the worst year in memory. There. Now, that phrase ranks up there with the early descriptions back in March—“unprecedented times.” But it’s true. So, how can you end a really rough…
Read MoreLeading a Remote Workforce: Reinforcing Celebration
Hint: this cannot be overdone! In every period of time, human beings love celebration and recognition. In a time like this and in a remote workforce setting, it matters more than ever. What do you celebrate? Winning, of course. When we win a new account or successfully complete a big project, there should be celebration.…
Read MoreLeading a Remote Workforce—Reinforcing Community
Abraham Maslow, famous psychologist, made it very clear in the Hierarchy of Needs, that humans cannot achieve a higher level of existence or performance until the previous level of needs are met. The need for physical security being the base must be met before a person can advance; psychological security is next, followed by “belonging”…
Read MoreRemote Leadership (9): Building Community
According to Sirota research, one of the three most impactful dimensions of employee engagement is a “sense of camaraderie” at work. In other words, people feel like they belong to something, to a company, to a team, to a family. This is extremely difficult in remote leadership. Mazlow’s famous pyramid deals with the needs that…
Read MoreLeading a Remote Workforce (Part 7): Leadership Credibility
There are three questions that followers ask of their leaders…constantly and now more than ever. Does this person know what they are doing? COMPETENCE Does this person care about me as a person? CARE Can I trust this person? CONFIDENCE Employees may give you a pass on the first question. Not without pain but they…
Read MoreThe Cause
Who wants people who just show up because of a paycheck? Even if they are only walking to the spare bedroom due to Stay at Home orders, that’s not a flourishing team or engaged workforce. The thing that ignites the heart is a sense of meaning, a higher purpose, a “Noble Cause.” Research into employee…
Read MoreReinforcing Culture (Part III)
Culture doesn’t grow on its own. It has to be nurtured. Strengthened. Reinforced. Constantly. How do we do that? Anthropologists, those who study humanity and culture, tell us that all cultures use 4 devices to define and institutionalize their culture. Totems. Totems are the symbols that remind a people of where they came from, what…
Read MoreAre You Getting Time in Your Starbucks Chair?
This blog is by no means an advertisement or endorsement for Starbucks. It is an endorsement of “time in your Starbucks chair.” It’s about thinking—something we do far too little of in our day. We are much more about amusement (not thinking) than musement (concentrated thought). We need to change! On of the prescriptions I…
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