I think I've said several times on this blog that Patrick Lencioni is my favorite business author. I like the way he delivers his material in the form of a story, complete with characters and drama and plot (but if you don't like that, don't worry, because he delivers the model at the end of [...]
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For the first seven years of my consulting career, I did tons of consulting projects with CEOs and senior managers, even though I had never actually been a CEO or senior manager. Eighteen months ago I joined forces with MSP, an Association Management Company, and this gave me the somewhat rare opportunity to provide consulting [...]
Continue ReadingIn my consulting work, I work with clients to solve problems. That, of course, means we have to clearly identify the problems, which, in turn, means I am guaranteed to spend time with people who are complaining. It seems natural that having problems would necessitate complaining, but when I get into it, I often get [...]
Continue ReadingI was sort of looking forward to simply being an attendee at ASAE & The Center's Annual Meeting in Toronto this year. I had been a speaker or at least led the bloggercon session for the last four meetings. I like speaking, but it does take up my attention during the meeting (at least until [...]
Continue ReadingI heard someone say recently that they were already sick of the word authenticity. It's obviously being discussed a LOT in social media spheres. I've talked about it here as well. I think it's a great word, but when any word gets too much play, it can start to lose its meaning. So here's an [...]
Continue ReadingAfter my experience a few weeks ago where the group I was facilitating had a very tough time with the loose structure I placed on the meeting, I went to Los Angeles last week to do work with a different group and felt better that my co-facilitator had developed a detailed and structured agenda. Of [...]
Continue ReadingI tweeted the other night that I am feeling "down on consultants." I recognize, of course, that this statement is not without irony, as I am a consultant. And yes, perhaps I’m being just a tad provocative (wink)—it is a broad generalization, thus it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Not all consultants suck, and some [...]
Continue ReadingSometimes I lament to clients that I have to fight against the reputation of being “touchy-feely” in my work. Once classified as touchy-feely, I can lose the respect of many in the business world. And, for the record, I’ve never sung Kumbaya at the end of one of my sessions, nor have I engaged in [...]
Continue ReadingThe FCNow blog pointed me to a resource on the Fast Company site that is about action learning. According to a survey of Chief Learning Officers in corporations, the three learning methods they are stressing right now (in addition to bringing in an outside instructor to teach) are: executive coaching, using your own leaders to [...]
Continue ReadingBusiness 2.0 has a short piece on “why we all hate offsites.” I’ll try not to be defensive since I often facilitate retreats that are held out of the office, but in this case, the article is referring to the traditional corporate offsite, which is typically at a resort location and involves outdoor exercises, trust [...]
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Jamie is a Vice President at MSP where he leads the consulting division. 
