Influencing and Problem Solving for Leaders and Others Mike Lehr's Blog

Management Lessons from Online Dating

The article, “The Modern Matchmakers,” from the February 11, 2012 edition of The Economist contained two major business lessons that I’ve discussed earlier regarding the...

Regression Analysis: Visualizing Intuition

Posted on01 Mar 2012

Tagstendencies, subconscious, schematics, regression analysis, Intuition White Paper, intuition, feelings, emotions, conscious, cognition

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People often have unrealistic expectations for intuition, sometimes thinking it’s a crystal ball, magic lamp or answer giver. This usually stems from trying to see...

Relationship Building Technique #4: Acknowledgement

Posted on27 Feb 2012

Tagsfeelings, words, Thoughts, Techniques, relationships, Relationship Building Techniques Series, question, phraseology, perspective, listen, impression, gestures, emotions, conversation techniques, conversation, conflict management, acknowledgement

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Other posts in series: Relationship Building TechniquesRelationship Building Technique #1: Open-ended Questions Relationship Building Technique #2: Closed Questions Relationship Building Technique #3: Pause Relationship Building...

Culture, Relationships Trump Vision, Strategy, Process

Posted on23 Feb 2012

Tagsprocess, emotions, employees, General Motors, incentives, labor relations, leadership, management, Megan McArdle, organizational culture, relationship building techniques, relationships, strategy, Techniques, The Atlantic, vision, Why Companies Fail

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Businesses spend much money on developing their visions, strategies and processes; however, they spend relatively little on culture, which trumps all of the others. Megan...

Real-time Personality Assessment: Freedom-Order Duality

Posted on20 Feb 2012

Tagsfreedom, change, change management, chaos, customer service, decisions, freedom-order duality, management, management by walking around, organization, Personality, process, process management, Real-time personality assessment, reorganization

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The Freedom-Order duality expresses a dimension of our personality involved in interpreting how we balance freedom and order. It can help us – in real...

Reinvent the Wheel & Prosper!

Posted on16 Feb 2012

Tagsadaptability, USPTO, reinventing the wheel, profitability, Lawrence Ebert, International Center for Studies in Creativity, innovation, improvement, biotechnology, advancements

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How many times have you heard, “Don’t reinvent the wheel”? Why is it then that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued over...

Relationship Building Technique #3: Pause

Posted on13 Feb 2012

Tagsconflict management, conversation techniques, emotions, feelings, gestures, listen, negative, pause, perspective, quiet, Relationship Building Techniques Series, relationships, Techniques, Thoughts

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YinYang as Problem-solving Methodology

YinYang, as expressed by the Taijitu symbol, has helped me solve many problems. The two major components represent the two major opposing forces in any...

Technique: Power of Names in Emails

Posted on06 Feb 2012

Tagsemail, expectations, initiatives, names, personification, quality, relationships, using names

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People’s names are extremely powerful. Every day, opportunities to use names present themselves, but we don’t seize them. Names in emails, even the shortest ones,...

Euphemisms: Preferring Illusions to Reality

Posted on02 Feb 2012

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Words have power, not only in their definitions but also, more importantly, in their connotations. The article, “Making Murder Respectable,” from the December 17, 2011...

Process vs. Flexibility: The Tradeoff

Posted on30 Jan 2012

TagsToby Johnson, process management, process, military, management, low-cost, Influence, Harvard Business Review, business, Boris Groysberg, Andrew Hill, adaptability

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We often overlook the downside of processes in our businesses because we enjoy how they allow us to scale and reduce labor costs. However, they...

Relationship Building Technique #2: Closed Questions

Posted on26 Jan 2012

Tagsclosed questions, control, conversation, conversation techniques, emotions, feelings, focus, interrogations, question, questioning techniques, Relationship Building Techniques Series, relationships, Techniques, Thoughts, word, word choice

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Change Technique: Personification

Posted on23 Jan 2012

Tagschange management, Techniques, subconscious, Retail Therapy, personification, Personality, merchandising, marketing, management, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Dichter, decisions, change, advertising

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In a previous post, I discussed the rebirth of Freud and the idea that most (if not all) of our decisions are driven unconsciously. Personification...

Leadership is an Affect

Posted on19 Jan 2012

Tagsbaseball, change, change management, chess, emotions, feelings, group, humanistic, humans, leadership, movies, Pied Piper, plays, process, relationships

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One can read endlessly about leadership. However, if plays play on a stage, if baseball plays on a diamond, movies on a screen and chess...

Aggressiveness as Defect

Posted on16 Jan 2012

TagsLaszlo Garamszegi, University of Antwerp, trap, The Economist, screen pass, perspective, Personality, hubris, Hannibal, Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Cannae, American Civil War, aggressive

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Confederate Attacks (Red) on the Union (Blue) at the 3-Day’s Battle of Gettysburg In business, people often see aggressiveness as a virtue; however, it can...

Mike Lehr’s Blog

Regression Analysis: Visualizing Intuition

Culture, Relationships Trump Vision, Strategy, Process

Real-time Personality Assessment: Freedom-Order Duality

Reinvent the Wheel & Prosper!

YinYang as Problem-solving Methodology

Technique: Power of Names in Emails

Process vs. Flexibility: The Tradeoff

Change Technique: Personification

Aggressiveness as Defect

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