Being creative can be tough when bad news abounds.  Yet taking the creative, challenging coach role through turbulence is a hero’s journey that matters greatly as we recover and build anew. What does it mean to be a trusted change advisor in today’s turbulent times? My colleague, Liz Guthridge, wrote a helpful post about the [...]

What makes for a healthy, “anti-fragile” (adaptable, responsive) organization today?   These slides from my recent presentation to the Michigan Management Labor Association’s (MMLA) presentation on Wellness –A Healthy Engagement: Organizational and Personal Fitness provide insights on tools to help.  Wellness –A Healthy Engagement: Organizational and Personal Fitness from Deb Nystrom “The best way to predict [...]

Random, extreme events:  What to do in a world we don’t understand.  Is it possible to develop characteristics to emulate strengths in nature in becoming anti-fragile as described by former wall street trader, now academic, Nassim Nicholas Taleb? Bio:  Nassim N. Taleb is a former derivatives trader who became a scholar and philosophical essayist in [...]

Entre-Slam is an entrepreneurial story telling competition held in Ann Arbor. Storytelling is powerful.  This was also a great way to illustrate story-telling as important to change and communicating complex ideas, including my history in organization development.   In my situation, this was a signal to myself to enter the speaking circuit.  I also wanted to [...]

“There isn’t anything so practical as” a good model to help leaders, change agents and advocates explain what is happening in change and transition, paraphrasing Kurt Lewin.  An informed change leader can head off the deadly effects of compliance and indifference and increase true, community commitment with a good set of tools, facilitation skills and change research, informed by timely [...]

Netflix culture and their lack of need for leadership development is SO attractive, like the siren song of Greek myth.  It creates great press for Netflix, yet it is so un-duplicatable without the right staffing & culture values mix.   Once again, culture trumps strategy every time.  Helping culture to shift using smart, agile strategy [...]

How many times has the question been asked, “What is management vs. what is leadership?”   This question, which is actually about power and influence, seems as if it may never die.  A web search on the difference between the two delivers 176 million results. __________________ A web search on “what is management vs. leadership” [...]

You’ve probably experienced it, that uncomfortable feeling of letting go of something tried and formerly true without knowing what is coming next. Welcome to the Neutral Zone, coined by change writer William Bridges1 who helped us understand the human element in Change. I propose that prioritizing “unlearning” for what no longer meets the needs of your [...]

Successful transition through endings is a necessary skill these days.  A William Bridges classic gives insights into helping endings succeed. <This post is part one of a two-part series on William Bridge’s Transitions change approach, with related change models and business examples.> Sometimes an ending is a major, transformative revelation for a business, such as when [...]

It’s always good to hear some good news about cities making a comeback.  Looking at Detroit and Las Vegas is a great way to explore how cities can envision a brighter future for us all. View of the Detroit Renaissance Center from within the Detroit Athletic Club, 2012 In this case, Detroit makes a recent [...]