At a major event in New Orleans, I once asked taxi drivers to walk into the venue and tell me where they thought they were. Every one of them could identify the convention center. Not one of them could really tell me whose event it was or why it mattered. That bothered me because place…
Every event has a cast, whether or not anyone calls it that. A board meeting has a cast. A fundraiser has a cast. A worship service has a cast. A customer conference has a cast. Someone is hosting. Someone is guiding. Someone is explaining. Someone is carrying the emotional weight. Someone is trusted. Someone is…
Two pharmaceutical sales cultures were being asked to become one. On the surface, they seemed similar. They sold in the same broad industry. They understood customers, products, territories, numbers, incentives, and pressure. But underneath the surface, they were different tribes. They dressed differently, spoke differently, valued different kinds of proof, and carried different stories about…
I once watched someone enter a steering committee with a beautiful, fully baked presentation and the wrong understanding of what the room was for. He thought he had come to present. What the room needed was for him to think with us. That difference matters. A steering committee is not merely a checkpoint, a ceremonial…
A senior leader once put the problem in beautifully human terms. If a sales kickoff lands on your daughter’s birthday or near Mother’s Day, he said, it “better be freaking good.” That line stayed with me because it cuts through the romance of gathering. Yes, events matter. Yes, shared time can do things email, dashboards,…
