Are you a shop foreman or a leader? In recent years a new focus has crept in to the profession. We are trending toward becoming shop foremen instead of leaders. The belief being that we must measure everything and compare everyone to everyone else. This is, in fact, a good idea and a long time [...]
I am a little annoyed with myself. As I address this topic of Leadership i find that I have fallen into the same trap as most others. I have succeeded in treating the difference between managers and leaders as two ends of a continuum and conveying the impression that one (managers) is bad and the [...]
Protecting the Past and Perfecting the Present Does Not Equal Finding a Future. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is a behavior often seen in organizations responding to massive change. Why is that? and why is it so prevalent in DeathCare. It turns out our century old culture is to blame and resolving a [...]
Insights come from the strangest places. This time from why women dress the way they do. My wife has bad feet. Most women do. Why? Because women's shoes are not designed for practicality. They are intended only to create an impression. Comfort and productivity, as purpose, are lost in favor of competing with others. When [...]
OR WHY FUNERAL DIRECTORS ARE NEUROTIC A pastor friend once told me: "The test of love is whether or not you are willing to tell someone their fly is unzipped." Funeral service I love what you do and I love many of you. Your fly is unzipped. My phone rings: "Al, this is Ron." Me: [...]
Funeral Service is simultaneously over managed and under led. The key to overcoming the "Being Necessary" complex is to recognize the difference between management and leadership. It is the overmanagement that creates all the physical and emotional stress in this profession. More to the point the current trends in misapplying management data is turning professionals [...]
Saturday morning, January 7, 2012 my phone rings at home. "Al, this is Bob. Guess where I am?." Bob Neiman is a successful internet entrepreneur who flies his own plane and dominates a narrow niche in the construction industry. Bob and his wife Amy have been friends of ours for many years now. Amy is [...]
Recently I read something that triggered an insight. In my Funeral Home Consulting practice it is clear that businesses don't just suddenly spin out of control. Except in the rare case of disruptive innovation like an unconventional competitor, calamity does not occur overnight. "Things" start happening well before the challenges are apparent. Almost all of [...]
I think I can make a very strong case that funeral service as a profession makes a vital social contribution to society. For me that makes it a noble profession. Unfortunately, the profession doesn't act with nobility as often as so many of us would wish. Not long ago I spoke of Alpha Dogs and [...]
to dismount." Archimedes once said, "Give me a lever long enough and I will move the world" For the last 30 years we have been pushing harder and harder on one and only one lever with diminishing results and it's time we stopped. Many of you, dear readers, know that I have been a bible [...]
