Three Wounded Pilots Who Flew Their Teams to Safety
As the Delta Force special ops team flew into Caraccas to capture Nicolas Maduro last week, heavy gunfire erupted from the ground, wounding the pilot in the lead Chinook helicopter three times. Instead of flinching in pain and diverting to safety, he stayed at the controls and delivered the Delta team to the compound where […]
Reconciling Two Stubborn Scientists
How would you feel if God enabled you to use simple relational skills you learned at church to solve a million dollar problem for your employer? That’s exactly what a woman named Diane did when she stepped in to resolve an employee conflict that had stumped her company’s president and human resources professionals. The joy […]
Three Qualities that Improve Every Relationship
After mediating hundreds of divorces, lawsuits, forced pastoral exits and church splits, I have learned that these types of conflicts usually involved one or more parties who lacked three critical character qualities: humility, teachability and flexibility. To put it in a positive way, if you want to avoid major conflict and enjoy a life-long marriage, […]
The Three P’s of Satisfaction
It’s not often that an attorney loses a lawsuit, along with her two million dollar contingency fee, and yet walks away satisfied. I’ve seen similar satisfaction with employees who didn’t get a promotion. With church members who disagreed with their pastors. And with children who could not escape discipline. The relationship-saving concept in each of […]
Reconciled by a Baby Moose
After two painfully intense mediation sessions, Dave and Don were still miles apart and more bitter than ever. Best friends since high school, Don had hired Dave to manage his construction crews. Working long hours together, they built a highly successful company. But then a series of management disagreements escalated into a heated argument that […]
Free EI/RW Training for Healthcare Workers
The stress on healthcare workers is increasing exponentially as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world. Even in the best of times, healthcare workers face a multitude of relational, emotional and physical challenges, including compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, moral distress, conflict with peers and administrators, long and erratic hours, family disruption and eventual burnout. The […]
Leadership Transitions: The Good, the Bad and the Clumsy
I’ve seen a lot of leadership transitions over the past thirty years. Like the characters in an old Clint Eastwood western, they generally fell into one of three categories: The Good, the Bad, and the Clumsy (which often turned ugly). Bad Transitions Bad transitions usually involved one or more players with malicious motives. Like the […]
No Excuses
I failed a coworker. Badly. No, not just badly … very badly. It took me a while to face it. When I finally realized what I’d done, embarrassment kept me from going to talk with him right away. So now I was doubly wrong. Failed to support him, and failed to admit it even when […]
Really Nice Pants
In today’s movie clip, Will Smith demonstrates the enormous benefit relational wisdom (RW) can have in the workplace. The clip comes from the movie Pursuit of Happiness. It is based on the true story of Chris Gardner. In the weeks leading up to this scene, he ran out of money and has been trying desperately […]
RW Training Strengthens Both Businesses and Families
Would you like to find an investment that consistently produces a return of $1.50 to $6.85 for every dollar you invest? What if that investment had the additional benefit of making your business, church or nonprofit run more smoothly and producing more creative, loyal and productive employees? Here it is: simply provide your employees with […]