Insights From the Emirates

I’m in Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates, as I write this. During the three days I’ve been here I’ve also been in Dubai, another Emirate, passed through the Emirates of Ajman and Fujairah, and left the Emirates for Oman. The experience has jogged my mind for each...

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Euphemisms

Last week I started off the new year by sharing my thoughts as expressed in the South African proverb "Good Behavior Must Come From The Top."  I must have struck a chord since I received a number of quite nice responses.  As I read the notes and thought about...

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Good Behavior Must Come From The Top

The heading of my musings on leadership this post is a South African proverb.  It's a good thing to think about on this first business day of the year. The start of a new year gives you a chance to throw out the old and begin fresh.  All too often we...

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Your Gut Knows

It never ceases to amaze me how if you aim your attention at something you suddenly discover that thing in many places.  For example, last post, The Power of Why, I talked about emotion and gut feel as the underlying driver of decisions.  Next thing I know, I'm seeing things...

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The Power of Why

We all know that when your gut makes a decision it's usually much better than when your head does.  I've listened to many people talk about how they decided to do things. Oten they mention that they thought about it too much and came to a bad decision.  Rarely...

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Power of Nothing

We are overwhelmed.  There is no respite anywhere.  Now even airplanes, the last refuge from continuous connection, are installing internet service.  That old saying "I can't hear myself think" is the new normal rather than a sometimes occurrence. I've thought about this quite a bit over the years as I've...

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Smile…and Improve Results

Many of us have always thought that if your employees are happy, everything goes better all day.  You might have noticed that we even incorporated this into the Benari motto: Pay Attention · Add Value · Have Fun.  According to recent research by Dr Nancy Rothbard of my very own Wharton School,...

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“We can’t expect…the truth.”

You might have heard about the child abuse allegations swirling around the football coaching staff of Penn State.  As someone who is from Pennsylvania, lives in Pennsylvania, and has hoards of friends and acquaintances who positively glow when they talk about Penn State...not to mention a client who has...

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