Articles for category: Leadership

May 3, 2017

Greg Thomas

The Accidental Exit

I once hired someone to work with me on a few projects but we never had the chance to actually, side-by-side work together during our tenure together. They left before that could happen – I called it the Accidental Exit. Sure we talked, discussed progress on projects and we might have been on the same project but in varying different roles, but we were never in the trenches together for a project. When they left they told me their one disappointment was this lost opportunity on never really working together – being in the trenches together, slogging through the problems.

April 28, 2017

Greg Thomas

The Evolution of the Watercooler

The Watercooler still exists – the forum for idle chitchat that really serves no purpose except to highlight the ups and downs of company politics. We might not physically gather around it anymore and instead do so virtually in Facebook, Twitter, SLACK and other tools that allow us to spend the day messaging on such topics. It’s hard to resist that swirling vortex of negative energy and sometimes we don’t even know we have succumbed to it until it is too late. But there is a way out. The next time you feel it happening, record how long you spent in

April 26, 2017

Greg Thomas

From Presenting to Storytelling

I’ve been toying with this idea for almost 6 months now and finally completed a Slideshare presentation on why I think we (all of us) need to start looking at transitioning from delivering presentations in our work to delivering stories. It sounds simple, but a quick glance at the last presentation you gave might yield a different story (no pun intended) where the intended output was more facts and presentation (i.e., firehose) and less connection and message (i.e., have a drink from the garden hose). Here are my thoughts on this this topic – How to Become a Great Storyteller

April 21, 2017

Greg Thomas

You Don’t Need to be First

First to finish your code. First to tweet. First to identify the problem. First to break the build. First to complete your tasks. First to volunteer. First to order. And simply because you are not first, does not mean your opinion, your idea and your suggestions are not welcome.  In fact they are probably more welcome and needed at a time when not everybody in the room agrees with what is being discussed.  Or perhaps where a different perspective on a problem is needed to ensure that people are getting the information they need.  And even to ensure that what

April 7, 2017

Greg Thomas

Your Team is not in Your Backyard

You can read pretty much any article on leadership and team culture these days and they all say the same thing… “Surround yourself with the best people so you can raise your game and become even better.” I’ve been stymied by this statement over the past few years because this statement suggests that you must be in arms reach of these people all day long, interacting with them on a daily basis and collectively focused on what neverending goal towards AWESOMENESS. But this is impossible for the following reasons; I don’t know all the GREAT people in the world, so

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