The igniteEX 2025 conference (with the theme “Achieving Extraordinary Together”) was last month. The opening session was pretty inspirational and definitely memorable, as a few board members (of PEN & our partners) came up on stage one at a time and shared why he/she attends this conference. The statements probably weren’t all that surprising – [...]
There's a lot going on these days. A lot. Businesses and organizations are facing increasing uncertainty and a growing number of complex challenges: the federal budget freeze, federal agencies closing or shrinking, the new (and potentially escalating tariffs), as well as shifting national policy (in areas such as immigration and DEI) are resulting in uncertain [...]
Sometimes the topic for my newsletter article just comes to me. Last week I ran across a podcast (and companion newsletter) published by Jo Saxton, a nationally known speaker, author, and leadership coach. Before I share a portion of it, let me start by saying my column is not about politics -- everything PEN does [...]
I get asked occasionally what is the single biggest reason organizations fail. Of course, there isn’t one right answer: organizations -- even from the same sector or industry -- have different cultures, different core competencies, different strategic challenges and advantages, different circumstances that contribute to success or failure. As a result, some organizations struggle with [...]
During the COVID years, we were all given the opportunity to reflect on our mortality and on what’s truly important in life: our fast-paced daily routines came to an abrupt halt, allowing us to recalibrate -- to refocus on the priorities in each of our lives. But, while COVID isn’t over, most of us have [...]
Ever heard the story about the customer who brought four tires to a Nordstrom Customer Service counter to return them? As the legend goes, although Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires, the employee processed a refund anyway. Talk about a culture that 1) is highly customer focused, and also 2) completely trusts and empowers its people to [...]
Everywhere you look, standards are rising. In business, in sports, in education, in healthcare – really in all aspects of human and organizational achievement – what is considered "world class" continues to increase. For example… It used to take 72 hours by plane to cross the Atlantic (1913); it now takes just over six. The [...]
I had a conversation with a CEO of a PEN member organization recently, in which he lamented the fact that his messages were just not getting through to employees -- he was communicating, but the messages just weren’t sticking. So I asked him what channels he was using, to which he replied the normal ways: [...]
Indulge me for a second: after nearly 10 years with the “PENworks” label, our annual conference is now igniteEX. Why the change? “Ignite” captures the essence of the conference -- it’s about inspiring change; sparking ideas and innovation; improving processes, people, and outcomes! After hosting years of successful conferences, we've seen first-hand the energy and [...]
As we start a new year, many of us set personal, professional, and organizational goals. But research shows that up to 80% of New Year’s resolutions are broken, and that the average date of breaking resolutions is about January 20 (that’s why the gym is so crowded the first two or three weeks in January [...]
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