by Franklin Wordsmith | Aug 5, 2020 | Communication Silos, Leadership
We Lose Our Humanity My brother Mark is my hero (as you’re about to see). Seventeen years ago, he was a true craftsman. Mark designed and built custom wood furniture with those extra touches: like cabinet drawers that would close on their own, whisper soft, with the...
by Franklin Wordsmith | Jul 28, 2020 | Leadership, Video
Here Are Their Top Three Strategies I began the year with a goal: interview between 50 and 100 leaders — from musicians to Instagram influencers to CEOs to social workers — and ask this deceptively simple question: What is your secret to building rapport...
by Franklin Wordsmith | Jun 9, 2020 | Communication Silos, Leadership
Three Questions that Leaders Are Afraid to Answer Honestly There’s lots of good information on how to break down communication, organization and information silos. But isn’t it all moot if you don’t know how these things develop? The last thing you want to do is put...
by Franklin Wordsmith | Jun 2, 2020 | Leadership
Think It’s Only Big Companies? Think Again! It was ironic. I was developing training for a company on how to have difficult conversations and create more collaboration when an employee sent me an anonymous email. Let’s Shoot Growth in the Foot He explained the...
by Franklin Wordsmith | May 14, 2020 | Communication Silos, Leadership
Asking Unusual Questions Is a Gift to Your People and Yourself We’ve all had leaders who were curious in the “odd” sense. One of mine was COO Mort Zalk. He was renowned for sitting next to new employees on the corporate jet and asking them to justify their salaries...
by Franklin Wordsmith | Apr 21, 2020 | Leadership
We Love Their Charisma and Inspiration — and Need to Keep Them from Wasting Us when Stressed Out At the PR agency where I worked in Minneapolis, everyone wanted to be on Marilyn’s team. She was sharp. She was funny. And she went out of her way to support...
