Order Now

Over 40,000 Books Sold!

Blog - Archived

Do You Care?

There have been a lot of challenging circumstances lately. World pandemic. Economic crisis. Culture crisis of racial injustice. People are struggling. Overwhelmed by the layers of anxiety. My mother could get COVID-19. My husband lost his job. My neighborhood is protesting. My friend is hurting. My country is divided. And

Read More »

Is your Purpose Alive and Well?

In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, leaders had a full plate just dealing with the immediate implications of closed operations, employee safety, rapid cash flow decline, and more. By now, most have created a new plan for 2020 that reflects this unprecedented challenge. In light of this progress,

Read More »

Retained (L)earnings

What have you learned in the last 30 days?  Will you remember it 30 days from now? Just a few weeks ago our worlds turned upside down and many of us found ourselves unable to do the things we normally do.  Go to our job site.  Go to the gym. 

Read More »

Daring Decisions in Crisis

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.” – Winston Churchill Nothing like a global pandemic to reveal the courage and character of our leaders. If you aspire to be the top leader of a business

Read More »

Notice something different?

In the last week, most of us have experienced a dramatic change in our schedules and environments. Many are now working from their homes or are without a job. It all happened so suddenly, leaving us reeling from the degree of change in our lives. So, since the changes in

Read More »

The Downstream Effects of our Work.

I heard this story some years ago that has stuck in my mind.  It was about a village that depended on a mountain stream for their water.  For years, at the top of that stream, there was an old man who made it his work to keep the stream clear

Read More »

Leaders — stewards or owners?

Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in lots of discussions about compensation for business leaders. Perhaps the most common thesis for motivating executives is “make them feel like owners.” That typically leads to a discussion of bonuses and stock awards — that are paid when goals are met. No doubt,

Read More »

How Will You Be Remembered?

At a business lunch last week, my colleague said, “You can’t ask someone if they have integrity.” Isn’t that the truth? You cannot evaluate a person’s integrity by asking them about it.  In fact, in my experience, asking them almost guarantees an inaccurate answer. The word integrity means “a firm

Read More »

With Deep Respect for Execution.

If you know me well, you know how much I love big ideas – those inspired daring destinations. I love innovation in every aspect of the business – new products, new advertising, new technology, new designs, new distribution systems. The bolder, the more innovative, the better. You also know my

Read More »

Politics and Work

Whew. The election is over. The campaign advertising has stopped. Back to work we go… Don’t get me wrong. I am very grateful to live in the United States – a republic where the people elect their leaders. I have never seen a better system of government in my travels

Read More »

A Positive Work Experience – is it possible?

Reading a newsfeed on my iPad last month, a headline captured my attention. “The World Took a Negative Turn in 2017.” The news story?  The Gallup organization measures the emotional state of most countries in the world each year. The 2017 survey results show a sharp increase in negative emotions – stress,

Read More »

Culture is Concrete, Not Marshmallow.

There is a book titled Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch, by Curt W. Coffman and Kathie Sorensen, Ph.D. The title makes corporate culture sound important, strong, high-impact. Yet in far too many places, building corporate culture is considered a “soft skill.” Squishy, hard to pin down, outright marshmallow material. So

Read More »

Why Work Has a Terrible Reputation

Saturday afternoon, I went out for tacos with my daughter and her family. The restaurant was a fun local place—and the dining area was decorated with a whole host of bumper stickers. On the wall next to our table, the bumper stickers had a theme. Life is good. Work is

Read More »

Cheryl Shares Three New Lessons

I am excited to be back in the blogosphere talking to you about leadership. The second edition of Dare to Serve hits the market in just a couple of weeks, and I can’t wait for you to see the new chapters. You can jump on Amazon today and pre-order your

Read More »

Humility Isn’t Easy

Excerpt from Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others I was once being interviewed for a leadership job in a restaurant company.  The interviewer, a senior executive at the company, asked me about my approach to leadership.  I said that I developed teams of highly competent

Read More »

Deliberate Dignity.

Last week I was getting ready to board a flight at Newark airport.  The arriving plane was late and the gate crew was rushing around to quickly get that plane ready to go.  The gate agent called the first group of passengers to board, but as they got down the

Read More »

Knowing Your Gifts

Excerpt from Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others About ten years ago, I developed a bit of an obsession.  Of everyone I met, I started asking this question: “Why do you work?” You could see them trying to figure out what answer I was looking

Read More »

Go Big or Go Home

Excerpt from Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others  I have a weird personality.  I only want to work on big, huge, hard things.  Maybe it is my wiring of being an idea person. Maybe it is my love of turnaround opportunities. Maybe it reflects my

Read More »

How Could Service Change You as a Leader?

Excerpt from Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others I began studying different approaches to leadership several years ago and that’s when I first encountered the idea of servant leadership. Robert Greenleaf introduced the concept of the servant leader in the late seventies  – one who

Read More »

How Are You Coaching Your People?

Excerpt from Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others It’s no secret people matter to me.  I consider the most important aspect of my career the opportunity to coach and develop people.  Coaching and developing people is a signature trait of a servant leader and servant

Read More »

Do You Care?

There have been a lot of challenging circumstances lately. World pandemic. Economic crisis. Culture crisis of racial injustice. People are struggling. Overwhelmed by the layers of anxiety. My mother could get COVID-19. My husband lost his job. My neighborhood is protesting. My friend is hurting. My country is divided. And

Read More »

Is your Purpose Alive and Well?

In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, leaders had a full plate just dealing with the immediate implications of closed operations, employee safety, rapid cash flow decline, and more. By now, most have created a new plan for 2020 that reflects this unprecedented challenge. In light of this progress,

Read More »

Retained (L)earnings

What have you learned in the last 30 days?  Will you remember it 30 days from now? Just a few weeks ago our worlds turned upside down and many of us found ourselves unable to do the things we normally do.  Go to our job site.  Go to the gym. 

Read More »

Daring Decisions in Crisis

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.” – Winston Churchill Nothing like a global pandemic to reveal the courage and character of our leaders. If you aspire to be the top leader of a business

Read More »

Notice something different?

In the last week, most of us have experienced a dramatic change in our schedules and environments. Many are now working from their homes or are without a job. It all happened so suddenly, leaving us reeling from the degree of change in our lives. So, since the changes in

Read More »

The Downstream Effects of our Work.

I heard this story some years ago that has stuck in my mind.  It was about a village that depended on a mountain stream for their water.  For years, at the top of that stream, there was an old man who made it his work to keep the stream clear

Read More »

Leaders — stewards or owners?

Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in lots of discussions about compensation for business leaders. Perhaps the most common thesis for motivating executives is “make them feel like owners.” That typically leads to a discussion of bonuses and stock awards — that are paid when goals are met. No doubt,

Read More »

How Will You Be Remembered?

At a business lunch last week, my colleague said, “You can’t ask someone if they have integrity.” Isn’t that the truth? You cannot evaluate a person’s integrity by asking them about it.  In fact, in my experience, asking them almost guarantees an inaccurate answer. The word integrity means “a firm

Read More »

With Deep Respect for Execution.

If you know me well, you know how much I love big ideas – those inspired daring destinations. I love innovation in every aspect of the business – new products, new advertising, new technology, new designs, new distribution systems. The bolder, the more innovative, the better. You also know my

Read More »

Politics and Work

Whew. The election is over. The campaign advertising has stopped. Back to work we go… Don’t get me wrong. I am very grateful to live in the United States – a republic where the people elect their leaders. I have never seen a better system of government in my travels

Read More »

Best of the Blogs

Social Media

Get The Latest Updates

Subscribe To Our Blog

No spam, just blog posts.

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.