by Brooks Mendell | May 18, 2022 | Communication Skills, Leading/Managing
Regular performance reviews, while often criticized, offer a repeatable and transparent process for building more effective organizations. Systems and teams, big and small, require feedback to adjust and improve. Sports have scores, cars have speedometers and engine...
by Brooks Mendell | Nov 16, 2021 | Leading/Managing, Learning, Thinking/Analysis
Growing up, I enjoyed the science fiction movies Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, and television shows such as Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers. The stories combined space travel, advanced technologies and humor with themes that demonstrated a...
by Brooks Mendell | Oct 15, 2021 | Leading/Managing, Learning
During my career in forestry, I learned that managing trees is about managing people. Forest resource managers and timberland investors are also human resource professionals. The work gets done through building productive relationships and teams. As with...
by Brooks Mendell | Aug 17, 2021 | Communication Skills, Leading/Managing
According to the late author and management expert Peter Drucker,[1] “one either meets or one works.” While our sympathies agree with this, we’ve also experienced effective, well-run meetings that got things done. Meetings either leverage or waste company...
by Brooks Mendell | Mar 24, 2021 | Leading/Managing, Writing
This post introduces an essay with ideas on coordinating different types of work. Aside from the entrepreneurial artist (e.g. Andy Warhol) or writer (e.g. James Patterson) or inventor (e.g. Dean Kamen), most individuals that live off of their ideas operate within some...
by Brooks Mendell | Jan 21, 2021 | Leading/Managing
This post introduces an essay with ideas and resources on personal productivity. It is the third in a three-part series on entrepreneurship. Like other business owners, I learned along the way and grew into my role as a CEO. Possibly the biggest lesson has been...