Can you see the big picture and the nuance all at the same time?
“Lack of trust” is now the stock diagnosis for every kind of team disfunction, and the idea that trust is the glue of organizations has become unquestioned dogma. But are we trusting trust too much?
Let’s talk about love. (Cue the crickets.) Love can be uncomfortable to discuss, especially in the business world. We love our families and friends, but colleagues and customers? In the land of assets and inventories, love feels unserious and unprofessional, insubstantial and inefficient.
What do Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, and Emperor Constantine all have in common? (I used this anecdote at a party recently, and it absolutely killed. Give it a try. You can thank me later.)
Strategic plans can be ineffective—left on a shelf and forgotten as circumstances change or people return to business as usual. But at Be Clearly we love strategic planning, because when approached as an opportunity to engage stakeholders, it becomes a tool for unlocking the power of people.
What would happen if we thought of time as something to give instead of to lose, spend, or waste? Human connections are the basis for life as we know it. And giving people time is the basis for all human connections. Last Spring, Be Clearly co-founder Colin Brine gave a TEDx talk exploring a new way of thinking about the most valuble gift we can give to one another—our time.
Innovation is an essential skill—one that sets great leaders apart from good ones. And it isn’t just for startups. Even the most seasoned business is sitting on untapped opportunities. But unlike startup entrepreneurs, leaders of established organizations face a powerful enemy: the status quo. Here are seven ways to combat the forces working against you and break free.
Individuals often underestimate the importance of giving to their personal health and wellbeing. So too with organizations. In many organizations today, corporate giving is neither a stated or naturally occurring cultural value. And where it does occur, seldom is it practiced purposefully enough to bring a significant impact. The reasons for this gap vary, as do the solutions. Whatever the size and shape of your organization, here are five ways to make corporate giving work for you.
Recent social science has confirmed what the wise have known for millennia: it is more blessed to give than to receive. And this simple truth applies just as much to organizations as to individuals. Corporate giving is more than a tactic for patronizing employees, convincing customers, posing for the press, or quieting critics. Applied skillfully, it is an organizational discipline with uncanny power to address hard-to-explain dysfunctions and boost performance.