Inspiring Management Tips

Agility courses teach confidence, and other things I wasn’t expecting

After a winter hiatus, Grace and I are returning to agility classes today. The room is indoors so it has nothing to do with the seasons, but just that I’ve found renewed energy for us to get back to “work. Rachel, our trainer, remarked that Grace walks into the room with a big smile on…

Read More...

“When a dog makes a mistake, I don’t get rid of him.”

A client remarked the other day about how this blog has made her think about her own dog and the correlation to the interactions she has with the employees at her company. “When my dog makes a mistake, I don’t get rid of him,” she said. “Instead, I try to find ways to avoid the…

Read More...

Well-intentioned people sometimes do unkind things

Kids freak Grace out. Their quick and aggressive movements scare her; she doesn’t know what their intentions are. Based on her street experiences as a pup, kids were known to torment dogs so she’s wary for good reason. In order to protect herself, she growls and bares her teeth hoping to get them to back…

Read More...

The power of teams; saving lives in Japan

Dogs are amazing. Those of us who love our four-legged friends know that. But when I think about their ability to save lives, I am in awe. A family member (thanks, Jen) alerted me to this: The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation has gone to Japan for a search and rescue mission; you can find…

Read More...

Managers play a key role in an employee performance problem

It’s their fault that the problem exists in the first place, right? But my experience with Grace gave me a lesson in this flawed thinking. The first few days Grace came home, she was an angel. Perfectly adorable. Then an occasional irritating incident would happen, like her walking by my bookshelves of cotton quilting fabric…

Read More...

About Graceful Leadership: My First Blog Post

People said I should have a blog for my business. But I resisted. What would I write about? How could I ever narrow down the immense number of topics about working with people? It felt overwhelming. I said I didn’t have time. There were lots of reasons for not blogging, but mostly I wasn’t inspired….

Read More...