This past week I exchanged email with my colleague and friend, Tom McCallum on the general topic of advice giving. The working theme of the post, the catalyst for the exchange, was about giving "less advice".

 

Totally unknown to Tom, several days prior to this post he had written a couple of other posts describing the advice he had provided to clients. This raised my shackles about the efficacy of advice in any form. I had started to bring up the issue a couple of times with Tom but failed to do so. Voila! Synchronicity, coincidence or serendipity took over and Tom wrote "Give less advice."

Topics: Beyond Teal

Periodically, I like most of you, get introduced to other professionals through or by trusted colleagues.This past week Jimmy P. connected as a consequence of just such an introduction. After a brief email exchange it became clear that Jimmy was a true professional and superbly intentional about where the direction of the connection might go. 

Topics: Beyond Teal

When asked the question, “Bruce, what is it you do?” I’m always inarticulate. I could say that I’m a business coach, a mentor, a trusted advisor to CEO’s and their entire organization. But those titles are really just bullet points for a much deeper, vested commitment.

Topics: Beyond Teal

Almost 15 years ago I was introduced to the work of Prof. Jerry Harvey, His seminal work on the Abilene Paradox and subsequent videos created an almost cult-like following for him in the 80’s and 90’s in Business Management circles.

 

How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed In the Back My Fingerprints Are On the Knife continues to be my very favorite title for a business book. It’s message is that we all collude in some fashion in the results we get through the choices we make, and that resonates, perhaps, even more importantly today.

Topics: Beyond Teal

For as long as I can remember, as I enter into the holiday season and coming new year, I’ve found myself wrestling with my own mixed emotional responses. The seeds of this ambivalence were planted long ago in my earliest memories. While others have visions of sugarplums and gift giving, imprinted on me is the scene of my father dressed in a Santa Claus outfit beating my mother mercilessly while he was in a drunken stupor…virtually under the Xmas tree. That scene played out far too often. It was as if the pressure and expectation of the holidays brought out the very worst rather than the best.

Topics: Beyond Teal

I've been derailed from writing for some time.   It’s so much easier for me to write and, indeed, speak in the context of a conversation or better yet truly a learning conversation.

Why to write may be an issue for everyone who picks up a pen or sits down with a keyboard. There is a part of me that is restrained by the additional thought, "Do I have something to say?” Or, “Isn't it arrogant to believe that others should listen, through reading my words?”  

Topics: Beyond Teal

(A Prelude to an Organization Observation Tool)

“Can we create organizations that are free from the pathologies that show up all too often in the workplace?”

This is the opening question in Frederic Laloux’s game-changing book Reinventing Organizations, a 350-page volume dense with historical observation, deep business acumen, and real world answers for modern organizational structure and behavior.

It’s a rhetorical question that’s emphasized throughout the book. The answer, of course, is yes … an outlook that I share with Laloux. Applying this question to your own organization starts by looking at the profiles of two hypothetical companies:

Topics: Beyond Teal, teal, Bruce Peters, reinventing organizations, Frederic Laloux

You did it. The “it,” of course, is your personal definition of success. You started the company. Got the salary. Landed the job. Grew the organization. Expanded the territory. Built the dream house. Ran the marathon. Traveled the world.

Topics: Beyond Teal, Third Act Guide, teal, The Third Act

Many people have asked me, “Why do you call yourself a guide and not a coach?” Those who know me, aren’t surprised when I reply with a question.

Topics: Beyond Teal, Third Act Guide, teal, The Third Act

Reality has a number.

It’s 32.

That’s the number of years life expectancy has grown since the early 1900s. That means at around age 48 you’re just getting started for the next three decades. After all, fifty is the new thirty! Right?

A New Chapter

People commonly refer to this phenomenon as the third age. Scholars, however, call this gift of years the Third Act. There is a critical distinction between the two.

Topics: Leadership, Beyond Teal, The Third Act