doug smith training

A great person, who used to be a friend of mine, once wrote a song called "Slow Down and Enjoy The View." It was a wonderful song but at the time, neither one of us really had much to slow down from. We had time, we had music, we had friendship, we smiled all of the time. Then we got busy. Life got busy. Work got busy. Does it ever feel to you like you're just too busy? Even in the middle of a crisis, it can feel like there is too much busyness to take care of business.  The other day I was taking a walk and after several minutes realized that I was hardly experiencing the walk at all because I was thinking so intently about work. I physically stopped in my tracks, took a deep breath, and started walking again. It was time to slow down a moment, see what was around me, and breathe again.  Slow down.  When I worked at GE we had an expression, "sometimes you've got to go slow to go fast," and while that meant something slightly different than simply slowing do...

Do you ever ask yourself "what's wrong with that person?" It can be difficult to see why someone else can't just do what we did to succeed -- because they aren't us. Maybe they'll need to do it their way. -- doug smith

Do you get stuff done? At the end of the day, isn't that what leaders are paid to do? Oh sure, to do that means you must communicate effectively, build cohesive teams, solve problems, and improve performance. That's all part of the job. But mainly the job of leadership is to get stuff done.  High performance leaders find reasons, and ways, to get things done. How are you doing? -- doug smith

To stay clear, stay clear of ambiguity. Say what you mean. Clarify requires constant clarification. -- doug smith

Complete honesty will surprise may people. Be completely honest anyway. -- doug smith

When I was much younger I was so shy that I often would not say what was on my mind. Who am I kidding? I hardly EVER said what was on my mind. I later learned that a) no one could read my mind, and b) I didn't get what I wanted that way. Since then I've been working on speaking assertively. Making the request. Stating the view. Clarifying my perspective. It's a work in progress. We're all a work in progress. Here's how I plan to make more progress: talk about it. There's no point in waiting to say what you mean -- you may not get the chance again. Say what you mean as truly as you can, with kindness. What do you think? -- doug smith