Tag: success

Recognizing the Olympians in your workplace

by Dan Oswald While watching the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics, I was struck by the many similarities between a country’s Olympic team and a company’s employees. It might seem odd to draw that particular comparison, but let me explain and see if you also notice the correlation between the two. At the […]

Getting your staff to work as a team is tough but essential

by Dan Oswald The other day my 19-year-old daughter told me, “It takes teamwork to make the dream work.” I’m sure she didn’t come up with that on her own, but it was new to me. Teamwork is defined as a “cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together […]

“Remember the Titans” offers memorable workplace lessons

by Dan Oswald The other night I walked in the door to find my youngest son watching the movie Remember the Titans. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know I consider the movie one of my favorites. Of course, I sat down and watched the last 30 minutes of the film with […]

Mariano Rivera offers a lesson in class

by Dan Oswald Either you love the New York Yankees or you hate them. I’m a hater. I grew up hating them. They were the antithesis of my beloved Chicago Cubs. That is to say they were winners. But I didn’t hate them because they were winners—well, maybe a little. I hated them because of […]

The smartest person in the room

by Dan Oswald I recently was reading on the subject of leadership, and one topic that came up was intelligence. So I set out to do some research on the importance of IQ in leadership. I must admit, it’s not easy to find a lot written about the intelligence of leaders. Type “leadership and intelligence” […]

What’s the right thing to say?

by Dan Oswald Last week I took my second child—and my only daughter, which is a significant distinction for a father—to college for her freshman year. I knew it would be an emotional time for her, her mother, and me. And I wanted to offer some sage advice as I left her behind in her […]

Common sense ain’t so common

by Dan Oswald Have you ever known someone who was incredibly intelligent but had absolutely no common sense? I’ve known a few. So the other day when a colleague was describing to me a book he came across that contained “cowboy logic” and the line, “I’ve learned that common sense ain’t so common,” it got […]

Are you measuring the risk or the reward?

by Dan Oswald I read something the other day that asked, “Are you playing to win or not to lose?” It’s an interesting question. You may be wondering what the difference between the two exactly is. You may think that if both strategies are successful, the result is the same. But is it? Winning is […]

Do you need an attitude adjustment?

by Dan Oswald Years ago, I heard a story about a couple of salespeople that left a lasting impression on me. The story went like this: A British shoe manufacturer sent two salespeople to Africa to investigate and report back on market potential. The first salesperson reported back, “There is no potential here—nobody wears shoes.” […]

The devil is in the details

by Dan Oswald I was traveling last week and had tossed a couple of recent copies of Harvard Business Review (HBR) into my briefcase before leaving home. So on the plane, I dutifully grabbed the April issue and was greeted by a cover that said, “We Studied 25,453 Companies over 44 Years to Find the […]