Blog

The Succession Planning Checklist: Nine Must Do’s for the Retiring Business Leader

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you’ve likely had a very successful career filled with many professional accomplishments and accolades, not the least of which is being in a position to plan what comes next for you and your organization. With nearly 10,000 Baby Boomers reaching retirement age every day from now until 2030, you’re not alone. In fact, you are in very good company!

As you consider your very next steps towards retiring, review this succession planning checklist of nine “must do’s” to guide your journey. While it may feel like your retirement is well off in the distance – maybe even several years away – there are a number of critical activities you’ll want to start today to prepare yourself, your family, and your organization for a bright and prosperous future “tomorrow”. Read more ›

Posted in Baby Boomers, Checklist, Family Business, Family Counseling, Financial Planning, Leadership Coaching, Retirement, Retiring, Succession Management, Succession Planning, Transition, Transition Management

The Passing of a Pioneer: Remembering – and Celebrating – Charlie Seashore

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I received the sad news last week that Charlie Seashore, one of the pioneers in our field of organization development (OD) passed away on January 20th having suffered from kidney disease for some time. This is a tragic loss for the field of OD – and quite frankly for all mankind – and will be felt by many for years and years to come.

For those of you who are not OD practitioners or perhaps simply didn’t have the good fortune of sharing a conversation with Charlie and his wife Edie over the years, Charlie is one of the kindest, selfless, and caring men you could ever meet. He had a clear passion for making a difference in the world, although he seemingly did so without any pomp and circumstance or need for personal recognition. Instead, Charlie made a difference simply through his conversations with one person – and frequently with one group – at a time. Read more ›

Posted in Charlie Seashore, Edie Seashore, Learning, Love, OD, OD Network, Organization Development, Pioneer, Self as Instrument

The Moving Walkway is Now Ending. Please Look Down!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Have you ever had that sensation of stepping on to a moving walkway at an airport or other public venue and “turning off”?  Unless I’m in a real hurry and have to keep going at full speed, I usually breathe a sigh of relief once I step on to the track – seemingly realizing that I can rest a bit while someone (or in this case, something) else moves me along. And then that lovely woman’s voice wakes me up announcing, “The moving walkway is now ending. Please look down.”

Well, guess what… The moving walkway is now ending, so please look down! Read more ›

Posted in Uncategorized

ODinLA MeetUp – A World Café About the Future of OD

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Join Plus Delta’s CEO & Chief Architect Dr. Jeremy Lurey as he kicks off the New Year OD style with an interactive World Café about the future of OD. Reflect on your greatest accomplishments of 2012. Set course for the year ahead by discussing the most critical emerging trends in the field of OD we need to be aware of.

For those unfamiliar with this large-group intervention, a World Café is a fun and fast-paced way of creating dialogue on important business topics and networking with your peers. Dr. Lurey will highlight the essential elements of the approach, and then we all will contribute to the conversation together so sign up today. You don’t want to miss this exciting MeetUp event as we ring in the new year together! Read more ›

Posted in California, Facilitation, Future of OD, Group Dialogue, Large Group Intervention, MeetUp, OD, Organization Development, Woodland Hills, World Cafe

Moving from A’ha to Action!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I was coaching an executive-level client of mine the other day, and he kept sharing these powerful A’has (as I called them) with me throughout our conversation. At first, I was thrilled that he was even present to such valuable insights from his day-to-day interactions with his employees. Before we started the coaching program, he kept himself extremely busy simply handling the organization’s business imperatives and wasn’t able to maintain much of a future focus or think strategically. Since being promoted to President recently, he clearly has shifted his thinking.

After I heard a few of these A’has, I then realized that the A’ha is merely the 1st step in the change process. If you don’t take action as a result of the A’ha, then the A’ha will be short-lived as merely an interesting idea. It will never become the catalyst for change that it could – and arguably should – be. Read more ›

Posted in Change, Executive Coaching, Innovation, Leadership Coach, Organizational Change Management, Organizational Performance, Performance Improvement, Performance Management, Presence, Strategic Thinking

Even Pit Bulls Want to be Bossed Around Some of the Time

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

This year, I adopted two dogs from K9 PALS a fabulous “no kill” shelter in Santa Barbara, California that rescues dogs and gives them a warm and welcoming home until they find more permanent placement with a family. In many cases, this can be a very long time – well over a year for some dogs, including mine.

I’ve been a dog lover my whole life. I’ve never had Pit Bulls though. As you can imagine, Pit is the primary breed of dogs that end up in the shelter. While I was a bit leery of bringing a Pit home at first, Nigel (our first adopted dog) quickly proved that Pits get a bad rap in the press because he is such a sweet and caring and obedient creature. He simply has a very powerful instinct to protect those he cares for, and he and our other adoptee Phoenix for some reason feel a need to protect me from the postman or UPS delivery person when either show up at the door! Read more ›

Posted in Bosses, Delegation, Direction, Dog, Expectation Setting, Leadership, Management, Managing Performance, Pit Bull

It Takes a Village!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

As I drove home from a full day of client meetings today, I once again realized how fortunate I am to have so many active supporters present in my life. Today, it was my nanny who was walking and feeding my dogs while I was away. Next week, it will be my father who agreed to pick my kids up from school while that same nanny is back home in Texas for winter break so I can keep working. And there are so many others – including my fiancée Monica, my assistant Jessica, our talented consulting team, my amazing clients, numerous other friends and family, and the list goes on… – who make my life possible. I also realized in that moment that it truly does take a village.

Now as I sit here watching and listening to 121212 The Concert for Sandy Relief (see www.121212concert.org) , it’s that much more clear what a difference a whole village can make. Sure, I heard about Super Storm Sandy when she touched down on the Eastern seaboard. Plus Delta’s very own Talent Manager Rebecca Ankeney was even directly impacted by the storm, living without power and many of life’s basic necessities for well over a week. Did I do anything to support those affected by the storm at the time? No not really, unless you consider being thankful for what I have and that it wasn’t me “supportive”. Now an entire cast of characters, including some of the most recognized performers and celebrities as well as several power house corporations have come together to bring the disaster relief effort to the forefront again. Read more ›

Posted in 121212 Concert, Charity, Community Service, SuperStorm Sandy, Uncategorized

Walk. Don’t Run!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

That always struck me as one of those nagging motherly things I heard growing up as a kid. “Walk. Don’t run!” Whenever I was excited about something though, walking never seemed nearly as fun as running. Or maybe it was just that I couldn’t contain my emotions in those moments. Either way, I would from time to time ignore that sage advice and run.

 

Now that I’m older, I know better. I actually heard that phrase “Walk. Don’t run!” in very different context recently. Did you know that firefighters always walk into their fires instead of run? Even in times of crisis, firefighters apparently know that running can cause you to miss something, which then of course can lead to mistakes. And if you are a firefighter, those mistakes can be deadly! Read more ›

Posted in Advice, Children, Firefighter, Mothers, Planning, Running, Walking, Wisdom

What Would Cherie Do?

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

A few years ago, I was coaching a senior sales leader on how to more effectively manage – and inspire – his team during the recession, a difficult economic downturn that all but decimated his real estate environment. One day, we started a scheduled coaching call, and he shared with me that one of his mentors and closest professional colleagues had just passed away the day before. He was clearly distraught over the loss and graciously apologized for needing to reschedule.

 

I of course acknowledged his loss and simply asked if there was anything I could do to support him in that moment. That’s when our coaching took a whole new turn and gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received from a client. Read more ›

Posted in Angel, cancer, celebration, Coaching, Friendship, Inspiration, Loss, Mentoring, mourning, Reflection

Happiness Is…

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Jim Collins taught me years ago that we excel at what we are passionate about. Or at least we have far greater chances of excelling at what we are passionate about, according to Collins. Well, my take on this basic human principle these days is that we are at our best when we are happy.

Sometimes, I think happiness is having a few moments to sit back, relax, and breathe a little slower rather than always going full throttle. It’s in these quiet downtime moments I can reflect and become present to how blessed I am. I truly am so appreciative of all the gifts I experience in my life! Being a spontaneous and somewhat emergent person, going all out actually is really fun for me though. It just isn’t sustainable to run at full steam all the time. Read more ›

Posted in Breakthrough, Breakthrough Results, Children, Coaching, Excellence, Greatness, Happiness, Jim Collins, Parenting, Passion, Performance, Results, Soccer

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Want tips to improve performance right now?
Sign up for Plus Delta’s e-newsletter!