Blog
What do Millennials (and Most Employees) Really Want?
A recent global study conducted by SuccessFactors and Oxford Economics on what Millennials want from their managers revealed some interesting results. "Millennials want feedback at least monthly, whereas non-Millennials are comfortable with feedback less often....
Connecting is an Art to be Mastered
“Connect to” vs. “Connect” Seth Godin offers some thoughts on the difference between connecting to your customers and connecting with them. An organization might seek to 'connect to' its customers or constituents. Connection is a form of permission, the ability to...
What are Prerequisites to Achieving Mastery?
On Saturday, I carefully watched the weather report and planned to leave Pennsylvania where I was visiting my parents. Snow was in the forecast and I wanted to get home before the "big event." The weather forecasters said snow would start in Maryland around 1pm and...
Let Us Count the Ways ….
Transform, Inc. has the best clients in the world. Seriously, we say that all the time. So, with Valentine’s Day just a few days behind us, we thought it clever (if we do say so ourselves) to say out loud to the whole world (or at least our contact list) what we love...
Three Words that Inspire a Different Reaction than You’d Think
"Don't buy this!" "You can't do this!" "That won't work!" Has anyone ever said any of these things to you? What type of reactions do these statements create in you? If you are like me, I bristle when I hear these. I typically say, "Oh yeah, just watch me!" My...
Do you Struggle Answering These Questions?
"What's your purpose?" "Are you happy?" "What's most important to you?" If you are like me, you have been asked these three questions or have asked them of yourself at some point in your life. While these are questions that lead you to do some self-reflection, I...
Can You and Your Employees Say These Words?
"You're right, we were wrong" Seth Godin shares some words to consider about owning up to mistakes with clients. "This is the most difficult sentence for companies that stumble in doing effective customer service. By effective, I mean customer service that pays for...
The Value of a Pause
To stop momentarily. To give pause. To take a break. To emphasize a meaning. To hesitate. To dwell or linger. To rest. There is so much value in each of these meanings. Yet, many see pausing as a sign of weakness, while we see it as a sign of wisdom, strategy, and...
What Questions Are You Asking As You Start This New Year?
What questions are you asking yourself as you enter into this New Year? Questions about our life surface this time of year as we ask, “What do I want to accomplish this year?” Sometimes the answers come quickly, and other times the answers are not so readily...
Find your “Happy” in 2015
Welcome to 2015! What makes you happy? That’s the question Shannon Kaiser, author of Find Your Happy, asked those she interviewed for her book. She interviewed people from all walks of life and found that happy people make a choice to be happy, even when their...
A Passionate Employee is Infectious!
Imagine what it would be like if you and every employee in your workplace had this little boy's level of enthusiasm about their work? I, Theresa, remember reading about Florence Nightengale, a nurse in the Crimean War in the 1850's and saying "that's what I want to...
When You Fall Flat on Your Face, What Do You Do?
This short, yet grainy, video may serve as inspiration for you this Monday morning as you watch what Heather Dorniden does as she competes in the Big 10 Indoor Track Championship Women's 600 meter race. What would you have done? Would you have just given up or...
Are you an Opportunity Maker?
In a recent Ted Talk, Kare Anderson, invites the audience to consider being an "Opportunity Maker." What's that? An Opportunity Maker she defines as "someone who actively seeks out people who are unlike them, builds relationships with them, and then works together...
Setting Company Goals with Ease this Year
Last week we talked about Mary Anne’s questions that help individuals “dig deeper” this year when setting goals. This week we want to share with you Theresa’s work with leadership teams as they go about setting goals for the Company in 2015. You may be inspired to...
Don’t Miss this Key Ingredient When Setting Your Goals for 2015
This year Mary Anne is trying something different as she works with sales professionals and business owners to set their goals for 2015. While the goals are very important, it is knowing the “why” behind your goals that is the real ticket to your success. By all...
Good Decision Making Requires this Practice
"In the timeless classic, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy wrote that the two strongest warriors are time and patience. The power of these warriors comes from their ability to transform situations, ease pain, and provide clarity. Sometimes situations that require our...
Start Your Week off With This Practice and Watch your Productivity Soar!
Productivity results from focus. To be focused you need to be clear about what is important. To know what is important, you need to check in with yourself daily to ensure you are working on the things that are the highest priority and get you the greatest return on...
Tough Questions about your Vision
If you work with me (Mary Anne) I’m sure you can hear me asking.... “What’s the vision?" “Where are you really trying to go with this?” "How is what you are doing or about to do going to get you there?” “What is the road map?” "What impact will you have on others if...
Every Monday Should Start Off Like This
In the film, The Pursuit of Happyness, the character, Chris, played by Will Smith who lives in a homeless shelter with his son, gets an opportunity to be one of hundreds of interns for a Wall Street brokerage firm with the promise of “only a few will make it past the...
Develop Your People or ?
In a recent McKinsey & Company interview, Tom Peters worries about how businesses are missing the vital message about their growth and sustainability. With all of the attention over the last 30-40 years on automation and the desire to replace humans with machines,...
What’s Your Lesson to be Learned?
This week we’d like to share with you the life lessons for each of the 9 Enneagram Types to learn. Our colleagues at the Enneagram Studies in the Narrative Tradition have created a brief description of what each Type needs to learn to live a freer, more fulfilling...
What Questions Do You Have?
This week we'd like to hear from you. What questions do you have for us? Send us your questions and depending on the topic, Mary Anne or Theresa will respond. The funny thing about asking questions is that you may ask the very question that someone else needs to know...
Reignite Creativity with What?
This TED Talk with Alan Iny turns our thinking about what it takes to be creative upside down. Alan says "You don't need to come up with a new idea, you only need to . . . " Watch and find out. Reignite Creativity in Business
How’s the Health, Wellness and Wealth of your Company?
“Good Health is Good Business.” Catharine Clark, MS, CNS, LDN This quote resonates with me over and over as I work with individuals in businesses. What I know to be true is that when employees feel good, success seems to fall into place. Catharine Clark, a former...
Wise Words to Pass Along to 20-Somethings Entering the Workplace
Recently Forbes Magazine published an article by a 34-year old, Jason Nazar, who was reflecting back on his 20’s and shared some wisdom for those 20-somethings who are entering the workplace. Below we’ve shared a few of the items on his list. If you want to read the...
Excellence Demands Much More than “Doing Your Best”
"'Doing the best I can'...is actually not the same as, 'doing everything I can.' When we tell people we're doing the best we can, we're actually saying, 'I'm doing the best I'm comfortable doing.' As you've probably discovered, great work makes us uncomfortable." ...
Response to “What Type of Leader are you?”
Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Years ago I was introduced to the Enneagram, a personality-based tool, that helped me see that anyone can be an effective leader as long as the leader is committed to practicing the skills of self observation and self awareness...
Conscious Choice
"We can claim the future we desire and act from it now. To do this takes the discipline of choosing where to focus our attention. If our brains, as neuroscience now suggests, take whatever we focus on as an invitation to make it happen, then the images and visions we...
Gutsy and Great Sales Management
I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be a truly great sales manager and about the handful I’ve known over the years. The problem is – it’s just a handful. So how does that happen? Maybe a sales manager was once a phenom of a sales rep. Maybe someone is trying to...
What is the Best and Worst Advice You’ve Ever Gotten?
Clients ask us questions about how we met, why we started Transform, Inc., and, of course, what we do. These questions really got us both thinking, and so on a plane ride home from North Carolina, after working with a client, we interviewed each other asking the...