Lead As If We’re All Connected….Because We Are

As the tools of social media migrate into the business community, we are all reading a lot about the power of connectivity in the workplace.  In a study published by the McKinsey Quarterly last November, their analysts identified the application of social platforms could unlock $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in untapped value in just four industrial sectors representing 20% of total global output.  Without a doubt, unprecedented opportunities are emerging that will transform the face of business in the years to come.  However, before a firm can unlock this potential through the application of technology, they must first address a cultural artifact that represents a very real impediment; employee disengagement.  Gallup has consistently reported that upwards of 73% of employees are disengaged or, at best, only partially engaged with their employer.  The question that immediately comes to mind is how much value can emerge through the virtual connectivity of a disengaged workforce?

In order to reverse the endemic, employee engagement crisis, leaders may wish to consider a single, scientifically substantiated concept;  we’re already, all of us, connected.  Not just to one another, but to everything throughout the universe.  Before you dismiss this concept as some sort of woo woo, new age precept, please allow me to share some eye-opening research, specifically, research demonstrating the non-locality of consciousness from the field of quantum physics.

In 2003, physicists J. Wackermann, C. Seiter and K. Holger published a research study entitled, “Correlation Between Brain Electrical Activities Of Two Spatially Separated Human Subjects”, in the scientific journal, Neuroscience Letters.  In this experiment two people began meditating together with the intention of being connected.  While sustaining their meditative states, they were separated  and placed in isolation chambers incapable of receiving any signal, electronic or otherwise.  Once isolated, the scientists attached electroencephalography devices (an EEG measures and maps electrical activity in the brain) onto the two subjects.  After a few moments, the scientists flashed a series of colored lights at one of the subjects.  The EEG recorded the subject’s brain’s response.  The second subject was not exposed to the lights, yet both subject’s brains responded instantaneously in nearly identical ways.  No signal existed between the subjects, yet their brain’s shared the experience.  They were still connected.  This experiment has been reproduced by other scientists around the world.

Another example of the non-locality of consciousness was recently revealed when the Chinese government conducted an experiment with spinning electrons.  The scientists isolated two electrons that shared the same orbital spin.  They then separated the electrons by a distance of approximately 400 miles.  When they changed the spin of one electron, the other reacted immediately and in the same direction.  This occurred instantaneously, faster than the speed of light.  The purpose of this experiment is the development of communications systems that cannot be decoded because there is no signal carrying the information.  No signal, no intercept.

Perhaps you saw the headlines a few weeks ago about a study from Australia that was published in the journal, BioMed Central.  “Our results show that plants are able to positively influence growth of seeds by some, as yet, unknown mechanism,” said study author Monica Gagliano of the University of Western Australia. “Bad neighbors, such as fennel, prevent chili seed germination in the same way. We believe that the answer may involve acoustic signals generated using nanomechanical oscillations from inside the cell which allow rapid communication between nearby plants.”  Plants may actually be communicating with one another better than people do in many organizations.

Moving from plant science to molecular biology, another study, “Quantum Correlations in Biomolecules”, authored by Vlatko Vedral of the University of Oxford in the U.K., explored quantum signally between biomolecules.  This correlates to things I’ve witnessed firsthand.  Back in 2004, I was the lead strategist in the commercial launch of the first human stem cell (multi-lineage progenitor cells, discovered by Dr. Dan Collins of BioE, Inc.) derived from human umbilical cord blood (this is not an embryonic stem cell, but a naturally occurring cell harvested from post-birth, medical waste).  Dr. Collins was able to differentiate these rare cells into many forms of human tissue and cells.  I had the privilege of standing in the laboratory with Dr. Collins, and looking through a microscope, witnessed a single, myocardial cell twitching in heart rhythm.  I witnessed oligodendrocytes (a type of brain cell), set apart on a slide, extending dendrites towards one another to create new, neural networks.  These single cells, native to the human body, exhibited a form of consciousness in and of themselves.  They knew what to do, even outside of their host organism.

In 2009, working on another strategic project, I had the remarkable opportunity of visiting the Horn Telescope at the old Bell Labs in New Jersey.  The telescope that provided the first proof of the Big Bang, back in the 1930s.  Everything in our observable, and unobservable universe, emerged from this event.  As Carl Sagan said back in the 1970s, we’re all made up of this star-stuff that emerged in a sudden burst of creation, billions and billions of years ago.  Every atom in our bodies, every element, is from that single source.

When leaders begin to shed their conditioned blinders and entertain a slight shift in perspective to include these insights, a remarkably different world begins to emerge.  One of authentic presence, insight and engagement that sheds the us versus them orientation.  If we choose to embrace these scientific findings, and view our world through this new lens of real connectivity, opportunities for growth, innovation and productivity breakthroughs appear all around us.  With a little bit of practice, we might even begin communicating as clearly as plants!

© 2013, Terry Murray.

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Filed under Health Care, Leadership Development, Organizational Culture, Talent Management

What Neurosurgeons and Horses Can Teach Us About Leadership

_PPH5798Sounds strange, doesn’t it?  I’ve grown accustomed to the quizzical looks over the years when I tell people we work with horses to help leaders develop the critical competencies necessary for today’s volatile workplace.  It isn’t a gimmick, an arcane game or ropes course.  It is a scientifically substantiated approach to experiential learning.  One that greatly accelerates development thanks to the fact that our carefully structured exercises ferry participants through all four modalities of Kolb’s Adult Learning Style Inventory.  Our approach also draws heavily from the neuroscience research of such luminaries as Dan Goleman, Rich Davidson, Jaak Panksepp and Ravi Rao.  Going beyond psychology, the brain research that is continuously emerging enables us, as leadership development experts, to address the causal, neurological pathways that result in demonstrated behaviors. Traditional leadership development methodologies, focused on behaviorism (i.e., mainstream psychology’s embrace of cognitive behavioral therapy), have had thirty years on the main stage, and left us with a dearth of effective, mindful leaders.  If anything, traditional approaches to development have added to the inertia in leadership we see all around us.

If you don’t believe me, ask Dr. Allen Hamilton, neurosurgeon at the University of Arizona Medical Center.  Dr. Hamilton is employing a form of relationship-based, Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning.  An approach very much in alignment with our own.  If you happened to have missed it, here’s a story about Dr. Hamilton employing horses to cultivate emotional intelligence competencies, heightened sensitivity to non-verbal communication, and empathy with medical school students:  http://www.today.com/health/open-say-neigh-horses-help-teach-med-students-6C9790792.

Need a second opinion?  If you have a few minutes, I’d like to invite you to listen to Dr. Ravi Rao, a Harvard trained neurosurgeon (who also holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins), who joined me on a radio interview, sharing his thoughts on our approach.  

So, why is this approach so effective?  The research demonstrates our brains have plasticity.  We can, through conscious effort, literally change the way we interpret and react to the work around us on a basic, neurological level.  

Neuroscience also provides insights into why human beings resist change.  The brain consumes 25% of the blood glucose in our bodies at any given time.  The majority of it is used to support our visual cortex and our near-term memory, the two parts of your brain you are using to read this blog.  After that, the brain is very conservative in its use of energy.  It takes far less energy to follow a well established neural pathway than it does to create new ones.  Think of our established neural pathways as dry river beds cut deep into the side of a mountain.  Every time it rains, the water follows the path of least resistance, cutting an even deeper rivulet down the mountain.  Trying to get the water to flow in another direction takes significant effort.

Neuroscience guides our approach to sparking neurogenesis, particularly in the pre-frontal cortex, the brain’s executive center where the competencies of emotional intelligence emerge (self-awareness, social awareness, self regulation, and relationship management skills).  By introducing novelty, (having a professional enter into a round pen to co-create a shared goal with a horse without the use of language, touch, or dominating behaviors is pretty novel) we disrupt the established pathways associated with problem solving.  As the participant connects, engages and motivates the horse, fall-back behaviors emerge.  Interpersonal behaviors.  When we don’t know what to do we do what we know, and the leadership behaviors people demonstrate with their direct reports are revealed to the participant on their own accord.  These are powerful, breakthrough moments of self-awareness bursting to the surface of consciousness.  No one is telling the participant a thing…other than the horse.  The participant is seeing their own behaviors reflected back to them through the behaviors of the horse.  And horses don’t lie, shade or judge emotions.  Emotions are information to horses (this is also a neuroscience finding based upon the work of Dr. Jaak Panksepp), as they should be to us as well.

Research from the field also provides new assessment tools that enable us to hone in on specific areas of development.  Here’s a short, video white board describing this application:

As we move deeper into the 21st Century, adaptive challenges will continue to confront us.  Challenges in which we don’t know all the answers.  Challenges that will require collaborative efforts from a multi-cultural, multi-generational workforce to resolve.  And resolve at speed, in real time.  Working with horses from a neurologically substantiated perspective imparts learning agility in leaders.  Horses require us to park our ego at the barn door as well.  They aren’t impressed with titles, paychecks or artificial authority.  They are impressed with presence.  This approach enables leaders to learn how to dance in the moment, acting with mindful discernment even when confronted with highly novel challenges.  And to do so while maintaining congruency, transparency and authenticity.  Horses, and humans, demand no less.

© 2013, Terry Murray.

 

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May 7, 2013 · 8:43 am

The Sun Coast Renaissance ~ How Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation are Reshaping SW Florida

RiverwalkFlyerSmFor those of you that may have missed it, there was a remarkable event conducted this past weekend in Bradenton, Florida (a city experiencing its own economic renaissance).  Riverwalk 2013 was a four day event, the middle two days of which were highlighted by the gathering of some of Florida’s best and brightest entrepreneurs and innovators.  On Friday, the Spark Growth Economic Development Conference brought together leaders from several of Florida’s higher educational institutions’ technology transfer organizations, young entrepreneurs that are reshaping our region’s start-up incubators and business accelerators, representatives from every echelon of the private equity and funding continuum, and successful CEOs that are moving their enterprises into our region.  The keynote speaker for the day was Jim Stikeleather, the Chief Innovation Officer of Dell, who brought his thought leadership to the forum through his insightful presentation entitled, “Disruptive Technologies and Disruptive Business Models: In a perfect economy where is growth and return?”

For those of us that have plied our professions in such high tech hotspots as Cambridge, Mass., the San Francisco Bay Area, Boulder, Colorado, Research Triangle Park, or other areas, Florida’s thin, sandy soil once felt a bit loose for our entrepreneurial aspirations.  This is no longer the case.  A new economic ecology is rapidly emerging, enriching the startup and innovative soil that lies between the beaches and the amusement parks.  The elements that came together to spark the fore-mentioned innovation hubs are rapidly emerging in the Sunshine State.  What was most impressive about the Economic Development Conference was the authentic intention displayed by all those that spoke and attended the meetings.  We were all there at our own expense, seeking to share our knowledge openly.

On Saturday, I attended my second (and their seventh) BarCamp Sarasota Un-convention, along with more than 340 other difference-makers from the area.  This is a self-organizing conference, bringing together entrepreneurs, technologists, and local business thought leaders to once again, share their knowledge openly.  This spirit of open collaboration is at the heart of what is undoubtedly a unique and profound example of authentic community.  Welcome to Leadership 2.0; leadership that emerges from all corners of our community and our organizations.  Michael O’Donnell, founder of iCopyright, Inc. and Leaves.com, who spoke the day prior, commented, “Corporations lead from the top down.  Entrepreneurs lead from the bottom up.”

BarCamp Sarasota is a refreshing forum in which anyone can sign up to speak (there were more than three dozen presentations offered) and the attending community is the only managing filter.  They vote with their feet.  There’s no controlling committee acting as a gatekeeper, screening submissions from their call for speakers submissions.  This openness breaks the control of the status quo, unleashing the kind of exchange we see in social media environments.  Creative, innovative, open.

What’s so striking for me is to contrast this past weekend’s events with a major HR conference, populated by senior executives from Fortune 500 companies, I recently spoke at in February.  It is a contrast of motion versus inertia.  Hungry, grass-roots entrepreneurs gathering to put forth answers to the challenges businesses and society faces today; listening, sharing, learning and acting.  This is the seedbed of innovation and new value creation, where agility and open networks trump market share and capital reserves.  It is from this soil that the next generation of purposeful, mindful leaders will emerge.

I wish to thank the community sponsors and countless volunteers that worked so diligently to make this past weekend a reality.  Special thanks to the Spark Growth/BarCamp Sarasota leadership team;  Sara Hand, Stan Schultes, Tracy Ingram, and Evie Totty.

If you missed this event, I highly recommend following the BarCamp Sarasota initiative for their next event!

© 2013, Terry Murray.

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May 6, 2013 · 1:37 pm

Establishing a Talent Management Baseline for Breakthrough Productivity

As the economy continues to gain ground, organizations are faced with the risk of unprecedented turnover.  Years of downsizing have left many workers disengaged, mistrustful of leadership, and generally burned out.  A recent survey illustrated the fact that 55% of employees feel they cannot handle their current workload and the resulting stress much longer.  From an organizational development viewpoint, this unsettling situation threatens the foundational competitiveness of many firms, fore it is the best and the brightest that are the most mobile.  The collaborative challenges of leading a multi-cultural and multi-generational workforce, in an ever-accelerating environment, only exacerbates the threat.

Let’s face it, traditional approaches to leadership development have fallen far short of their promise.  With enterprises investing $50 billion a year in leadership development, you’d think we’d see better results, yet only 1% of 5,560 executives assessed (McKinsey Quarterly, July, 2011) scored excellent in key competencies.  Nearly nine out of ten score below average.  The fact of the matter is, behaviorally-based approaches to leadership development only treat the symptoms of poor leadership, blindly missing the causal elements that differentiate mediocre management from inspirational leadership.  Even worse, these traditional approaches to talent management are failing to identify upwards of 65% of high potentials.  All of these factors are combining to create the perfect storm for many companies.  With the speed of business and demands for innovation what they are today, committing a misstep in talent management can be fatal…and there no longer exists even a modicum of time to respond.  If you get blindsided by this today, you may not be around tomorrow.

Here’s a short, video white board describing how leveraging the state-of-the-science findings from the field of affective neuroscience, along with incorporating targeted, demonstrated high performer competencies (in today’s volatile world), can anticipate this coming wave of disruption by creating a quantitative, talent management baseline that aligns with the demands of the day.

© 2013, Terry Murray.

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May 1, 2013 · 4:07 pm

Integrating Neuroscience and Experiential Learning to Development Next Gen Leaders

 Last Friday, I had the opportunity to appear on Patricia Raskin’s Positive Business radio program.  As a frequent guest of Patricia’s, we picked up our conversation on how the research studies emerging from the field of affective neuroscience are providing high resolution insights into how the brain responds and processes emotions and how this can be leveraged to develop highly engaging, inspirational leaders.  We also discuss our approach to experiential learning to accelerate a powerful shift in perspective that enables leaders to see and experience the emotional, psychological and resulting productivity effect they have on those they lead.

You’re welcome to listen to the 22 minute interview here:


You’re also welcome to take a look at our approach here:

© 2013, Terry Murray.

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April 29, 2013 · 9:47 am

Creating a Foundation for High Performance Health Care

As health care delivery systems embark on their transformational journeys, the complexity of their environment begets the question; where best to begin?  Some are pursuing a model of Total Quality Management, a.k.a. Six Sigma. As complex as they are, the process controls necessary to ensure the quality build of a GE 777 jet engine do not have to contend with the greatest variable set of all; a continuous stream of ill, suffering, frightened human beings and their families.  As proven as TQM methodologies are in industrial settings, how will these approaches deal with the human emotional element?

The emotional landscape of every patient is effected at each touch point of the delivery system.  The breadth of this challenge elevates it to the level of being cultural.  Changing organizational culture is seen to be fraught with risks, but that needn’t be the case.  Through their interactions, people create culture.  Change the tone of the interactions and the culture will follow suit.  To create lasting change, however, one must go deeper than the behavioral interactions of clinicians, to the causal elements behind the impetus for said interactions.  This speaks to each clinician’s particular emotional style.

Emotional Styles.003Affective neuroscientist Rich Davidson, of the University of Wisconsin, has demonstrated that human beings have six emotional styles.  Each dimension is a continuum upon which we reside…our orientation point, so to speak.  Dr. Davidson’s research has identified, using advanced imaging technology, what parts of the brain respond, at differing degrees in each individual, to various emotional stimuli.  He’s also created a simple assessment to measure each dimension and shared it in his 2012 book, “The Emotional Life Of Your Brain”.  Our emotional style is not set in stone, however.  Thanks to the plasticity of the brain, we can actually change where we are on each continuum through conscious effort.  These dimensions of emotional style culminate in our level of emotional intelligence; how we connect, engage and interact with both our internal and external emotional landscape.  Basically, how we show up and great the world at each and every moment.

Ample peer-reviewed research exists that supports how emotional intelligence contributes to positive clinical, financial and organizational outcomes in health care settings (drop me a note and I’ll be glad to send along the bibliography).  If we look to the patient-centric environment the HCAHPS assessment is attempting to create and measure, the importance of strong communications skills, sensitivity, empathy and responsiveness jump off the page.  Key attributes of emotionally intelligent clinicians.

Hi Perform Emotional Styles.001Here’s another strong indicator as to where to begin; today’s high performers, in highly volatile, challenging environments, share ten demonstrated competencies* that emerge from a strong blend of their dimensions of emotional style.  It’s not a stretch to see how these competencies would bring both immediate and long-term benefits to any clinical environment.  It’s also not a stretch to see how by cultivating these competencies throughout an institution would impact both real and perceived quality of care.  This approach to capacity building reaches an inflection point, once enough associates are consistently demonstrating these skills, that shifts the culture.

By assessing for emotional style and targeting for high performance, observable skills, specific developmental opportunities are revealed and can be measured.  Incorporating a talent management analytics platform (we work with technology partner Talent Sprocket) enables an institution to baseline competencies and styles.  This foundation of data sets can be used to measure developmental investments, correlate HCAHPS scores, and identify best fit candidates in the pipeline.  Over time, as the data base builds, predictive analytics can emerge to further guide strategic decisions.

Of course, it all begins and ends with leaderships’ buy-in and support.  But by taking a scientifically-substantiated approach to targeted skills development health care systems can begin to shift their culture without introducing elements of risk.

© 2013, Terry Murray.

*“Breakthrough Performance in the New Work Environment – Identifying and Enabling the New High Performer”, Executive Guidance for 2013, CEB, December, 2012. http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd/executive-guidance/index.page.

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April 17, 2013 · 2:11 pm

Are You Positioned to Succeed in the Third Industrial Revolution?

The risk of being an innovator is that you’re often the first one in the room with the next big idea.  It can be a lonely place while you’re waiting for the mainstream to catch up.  Trust me, we know.  We’ve been at the very forefront of thought leadership for nearly five years, but the wait was worthwhile as study after study is hitting the mainstream business press validating our approach with one salient, statistically-signficant point after another.

Here’s another study that supports our perspective.  The SHL Talent Report is monumental, having canvased data from more than one million professionals, executives and associates from around the world to gather insights into People Intelligence and the strategic role this perspective is already playing in organizational success or failure.  The study focuses on several key facets of Leadership for Today, Leadership for Tomorrow, Innovation, Talent Management and Behavioral Risk, Gender & Generational Diversity in Leadership, and the Global Race for Talent.  I think you’ll find it to be an informative and eye-opening weekend read!

Here are some of my thoughts on the major points brought to light in the study ~

First, an opening word on People Intelligence.  SHL defines this as, “The intelligence that is delivered through reliable, scientifically valid and objective measures of people’s talents, ranging from their potential to be an effective leader to the specific skills and knowledge required for the thousands of daily transactions that make or break an organization.”  As a former member of Naval Intelligence and a seasoned Executive Strategist, this is why our firm is in the sector we chose to be in…human beings are the raw material of value creation in the New Economy.  It’s also why we partnered to bring Talent Sprocket (Talent Sprocket Performance Transformation Toss Sheet eVersion) and Democrasoft® (How One Simple Step Can Solve Your Engagement, Inclusion and Collaboration Challenges eVersion) into our open network partnership.

Leadership for Today ~ The great disconnect continues between leaders and associates.  Only 1 out of 4 associates believe their organizations have the leadership necessary to succeed in the future.  Only 1 out of 3 associates believe their firm has the the top leadership available from within their industry.  Leaders are equally concerned about the pool from which they can find the successors to the 76 million Baby Boomers that will be retiring in the coming years.

The study goes on to identify both the transactional skills and transformational skills necessary for effective leadership.  These skills include the ability to build effective relationships, analytical and organizational skills, adaptive ability to navigate change, effective communication skills, collaborative influence, lateral creative thinking to deliver new insights, and the drive to see things through.  Notice a theme?  These are primarily the soft skills that many still roll their eyes at the mention.  Feel free to continue to roll your eyes, but take a moment to notice what happens to your field of vision when you do so.

Takeaway ~ Only 6.7%, or 1 in 15 managers, professionals, or global executives have the skills and potential for effective leadership today.

Leadership for Tomorrow ~ Take heart, fore herein lies our future success.  One out of three professionals from Gen-X and Gen-Y display some potential (same criteria as above) for effective leadership tomorrow.  The challenge lies in identifying the right high potentials and investing in their training and development to translate potential into actuality.  U.S. firms best beware, however, because emerging economies have a greater pool on which to draw upon.

Takeaway ~ The question isn’t whether or not their is potential leadership talent, but how intelligent your enterprise is in recognizing that talent and developing it.  Currently, only 1 in 15 managers or executives have the potential to become a top leader, but why?  A recent CEB study identified that the vast majority of firms overlook the right high potentials because they don’t understand or recognize the contributory skills and aptitudes that are cogent for today and the future.  They’re caught looking for the attributes of yesteryear.

Innovation ~ Today’s buzzword, right?  We all know this is the key to survival in the future.  However, companies are often missing both the recognition of true innovators and cultivating the fertile soil of organizational culture necessary for innovation to translate into commercially viable products and services.  The study identifies the behaviors that drive effective innovation that evolve around a mix of focus, insight, networking and collaboration.  These include, ability to reason, capacity to think laterally, focus, adaptability, persistence, a capacity to build effective relationships, ability to navigate social networks, influential communications skills, and the ability to impart excitement and passion for the innovation.  Pretty similar theme to the leadership attributes listed above, wouldn’t you say?  Again, soft skills and creativity reign.

Takeaway ~ Innovation is a strategic imperative.  Innovation is, at its very core, about change.  Yet 70% of traditional change management programs fail. In addition, only 1 out of 17 graduates and professionals, or 5.8%, have the capacity to become true innovators.  How are you going to attract, recruit, retain, reward and acknowledge these rare talents?  This is why culture is key.  According to a report published by The Economist, this will be the driver of The Third Industrial Revolution.  If traditional change management fails, why would you look to traditional organizational and leadership development approaches to drive innovation?  It’s a recipe for failure.

Behavioral Risk ~ People take risks, not processes and Talent Management must be seen as a part of Risk Management.  Risk comes from hidden biases that stem from a lack of self and social awareness.  Again, developing soft skills, at all levels of the organization are key.

Takeaway ~ As the speed of change continues to accelerate, authority and trust must move deeper into the organization.  Developing self and social awareness throughout the business mitigates organizational risk.

Gender & Generational Diversity ~ The study demonstrates that the difference between leadership potential for women and men is less than 1% (and it slightly favors women, by the way), yet on a global level men enjoy senior leadership positions by a ratio of 3:1 over women.  In the U.S. the figures are exceptionally poor, with 83% of leadership roles held by men.  Only places like Japan and countries in the Middle East fare worse.

Generationally, only 30% of Gen-Y’s plan to spend their entire career with one firm.  They’re mobile.  And they embrace intrinsic values (personal and professional development, authentic relationships, purposefulness, being a part of something larger than themselves) over the extrinsic values of the Baby Boomers (money, power, prestige).

Takeaway ~ I’ll leave the gender diversity issue for Warren Buffett to answer.  As to generational diversity, if you’re not strategizing how you’re going to leverage intrinsic values over extrinsic values, you’re holding the door open for your technology natives and future innovators to walk out the door.

The Global Race for Talent~ I’ll let you read this for yourselves.  The point I wish to make here is the U.S. ranks 23rd in the world for professionals with the right talents to succeed globally in the coming years.

Takeaway ~ Simply put, the traditional approaches for leadership and organizational development in our country have failed.  It’s time for a breath of fresh air and if innovation is important to you, perhaps it’s time to embrace an innovative approach to leadership and organizational development.

© 2013, Terry Murray.

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Filed under Diversity & Inclusion, Leadership Development, Organizational Culture