The Discipline of Listening
Our brains make it difficult, if not impossible, to fully or accurately comprehend what our Communication Partners wish to convey. Entering through our ears and traveling through our neural pathways in...
View ArticleServant Leadership: new skills to serve others, and why the old ones don’t work
I became enamored of the concept Servant Leadership in the 1980s. Developed by Robert Greenleaf, it’s defined thus: a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds...
View ArticleThe 13 Steps of Change
Change management is one of those core competencies that seems to mean different things to different people. Whatever the methods used, however, the process of achieving change is fraught with...
View ArticleThank You. We Appreciate You: a case study in caring for employees
Early this morning I went to my favorite ‘big box’ supermarket, WinCo. If you’re not in one of the 5 states where it operates (Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon), you may not be...
View ArticleInfluencers Must Change Brains, not Minds: why information, persuasion, and...
As an influencer, how often do say to yourself “Why doesn’t she understand me?” or “If he understood me better this decision would be a no-brainer.” It’s natural to assume Others will understand – and...
View Article‘No Decision’ isn’t Indecision: people won’t buy until they’re buyers
I’ve been reading articles claiming a major impediment to closing sales is buyer’s ‘indecision’. But is non-buying called ‘indecision’ because people aren’t responding according to a seller’s...
View ArticleBeyond Transactional Management: how and why to convert to Relational Leadership
Remember the intake form you were asked to complete at a new doctor’s office? Questions like Do you smoke? How often do you exercise? Transactional queries that gather data but inspire no...
View ArticleOur Brains Determine Our Reality
Do you know where your ideas, behaviors, and choices come from? Every thought we have comes from our existing neural circuitry, as does everything we do or we’re curious about. What we hear others say...
View ArticleI Hear You My Way
I recently got an email from a subscriber complaining that although he’d read and learned a ton from my articles over the years, he was having trouble reading them on his computer and would I please...
View ArticleYou Can’t Change a Behavior by Trying to Change a Behavior
I recently got a call from a noted venture capitalist of healthcare apps. DH: I heard you have a model that facilitates permanent behavior change. I wonder if it would work with any of the 15...
View ArticleThinking in Systems: the difference between sequential thinking and systems...
As an original thinker, I think in systems or, as some systems thinkers call it, ‘thinking in circles’. The main difference between systems thinkers and serial thinkers is the scope of what we notice....
View ArticleA View from the Buy Side
Did you ever wonder what happens behind the scenes with prospects after you’ve made a connection, given a great pitch, or delivered an engaging presentation? Why they don’t return your calls or call...
View ArticleQuestioning Questions
Decades ago I had an idea that questions could be vehicles to facilitate change in addition to eliciting answers. Convention went against me: the accepted use of questions (information gathering...
View ArticleWhy Women Make Great Leaders
When my son George was born in 1972 I was determined to give him attributes I found compelling in men: kindness, respect and an awareness of others, creativity, a willingness to listen and to...
View ArticleChange Without Resistance: Podcast series and article on generating buy-in...
Note: Sharon Drew now has available a 5-session How of Change™ program for folks interested in brain-based, permanent behavior change. Watch the one-hour video introduction. Why does it seem so hard to...
View ArticleBeyond Empathetic Listening
We all know the importance of listening; of connecting with others by deeply hearing them share thoughts, ideas, and feelings; by being present and authentic. We work hard at listening without...
View ArticlePutting People First: the path to Customer Centricity, essay
A few years ago, Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, was interviewed as he discussed their new Customer Focus initiative: prioritizing Customer Centricity over revenue by putting their...
View ArticleWhy Change Seems So Hard: Essay on facilitating buy-in and avoiding resistance
How do we manage change in our organizations? Not very well, apparently. According to statistics, the success rate for many planned change implementations is low: 37 percent for Total Quality...
View ArticleWhy Aren’t You Closing More Prospects? Hint: maybe ‘need’ is not the best...
Do you know precisely who in your funnel will buy? During your conversation it seemed like these folks needed your solution, but from your history you know that being in your funnel may not indicate...
View ArticleInfluencers vs. Facilitators: essay on enabling change congruently
Many learning tools and programs provide tools for Influencers – coaches, sellers, negotiators, leaders, healthcare providers, managers, and consultants – to help Others make the changes they seek....
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