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Turning 40 and Just Hitting My Stride

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Last Wednesday was my 40th birthday. I was not specifically waiting for the day to come to begin my life. Let’s face it, I’ve already lived a very full and blessed life, complete with tremendous revelations, numerous accomplishments, and several personal tragedies and struggles in between. With that said, I am relating to the day as if I am just hitting my stride, having only finished the 1st leg of my own personal relay race.

For years, I’ve heard of people fearing their 40th birthdays as if it meant they were now old or “over the hill”. For the past year or so, I’ve shrugged that off for the most part saying that I’ve always lived well beyond my years anyway. As the day drew closer, I then kept declaring how I was going to “figure out my life” and determine “what I’m going to do when I grow up” by the time I turned 40 – as if I would really have all the answers by then.  Now that the day has passed, I’m really glad it has because it feels like I now have permission to do exactly that!

Read more ›

Posted in 40, Birthdays, Declaration, Learning, Life, Malcolm Gladwell, Personal Development, transformation, Uncategorized

Designing the Organization of the Future…TODAY!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

An effective organization design can make or break your ability to achieve your business strategy. This is particularly true in today’s ever-changing environment. As a result, Plus Delta has seen a growing need for our clients to redesign their organizations to better align them with their marketplaces.

 As we look at the landscape of our clients, we see several trends emerging. Larger organizations focused on market demand and market opportunity are designing their strategies to give them better market share and increased growth post-recession. At the same time, many mid-sized companies are trying to build new business functions that they know are now needed to respond to emerging opportunities, but they often don’t know how to implement them on their own. Read more ›

Posted in Business Strategy, Customer Requirements, Future, Innovation, Organization Design, Organization Structure, organizational change, organizational culture, transformation, Work Processes

It’s the Network!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I believe it was Ellen De Generes who first started talking about having “my people” in her American Express commercials a few years ago. More recently, it’s been Verizon Wireless who has been preaching the power of their network. Whichever way you look at it, it seems more and more critical these days to be connected and make sure someone has got your back!

For years, the term “networking” meant to me that I had to go to big professional events and try to make new friends with a bunch of strangers. If I did that well, then I might be more successful in my independent consulting practice because my new BFF would help position me for new, exciting projects. Being more of an introvert myself, I never really enjoyed that kind of networking, so I never really took those steps to cultivate a strong network. At least that’s what I thought until recently because my network seems stronger than ever right now, and it clearly keeps me going whenever the going gets tough. Read more ›

Posted in Coaching, Ellen DeGeneres, HR, Network, Networking, Referrals, Relationship Management, Relationships, Vistage International

Never Say Never…You Really Can Get It All Done!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Someone once told me that we all will go to our graves not having got it all done. I used to agree wholeheartedly. Now I call bullshit!

Yes, I live a pretty busy life. And yes, I live much of that life questioning how I can possibly get everything done that I want to get done. I’ve even spent many a day – many a year actually! – living the words of Lt. Col. Willie Sharp declaring, “No time!” in the movie Armageddon as the astronauts frantically try to blow up and get off of the asteroid (feel free to read one of my recent blog postsfor more on that). These days I’m continuing to recognize that there is an abundance of time in my life to get done what really needs to get done. Read more ›

Posted in Game of life, Life, Play, Priorities, Priority Management, Stress, Stress Management, Time, Time Managment

Productivity Management: Always Prioritizing from Strategy to Tactics

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Many, if not all, of us get wrapped up in our day-to-day activities from time to time. “There’s so much to do. I’ll never get it all done!” is a story I tell myself much of the time. Amazingly, I get tons done throughout my busy days. It just isn’t always the stuff that I “need” to get done as it is not always aligned with my true goals and intended outcomes.

A few years ago, I took a productivity management course called Mission Control (see MissionControl.com for more info). This program touted itself as the next generation in time management and provided a powerful framework for maintaining control in one’s life by committing thoughts and ideas and common To Do’s to more formal existence systems (e.g., calendars, note pads, etc.) such that they didn’t get lost without being fulfilled. While I still use many of the Mission Control techniques today, I’ve come to realize that without defining my priorities it really isn’t possible to be productive.  Read more ›

Posted in Intentions, Mission Control, Priorities, Priority Management, productivity, productivity management, Strategy, Tactics, Time Managment

Leadership Lessons from Our New Canine Companion, Nigel

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Plus Delta’s staff has a long-standing history of inviting our four-legged canine friends to work with us. In fact, that’s one of the many reasons why Our Blog was honored as one of the top consulting blogs by OnlineBusinessSchool.org. Well, Plus Delta’s Founder and CEO recently adopted a new dog into the firm, and we’ve been fortunate enough to have him entertain – and teach – us in the office for the past few weeks. 

As best we can tell, Nigel is a 7-year-old part Pit Bull, part Labrador mix. And even though he weighs in at close to 70 pounds, he is a lap dog through and through (so he thinks!). He’s actually one of the sweetest, most docile dogs we’ve ever met and a pleasure to be around, which is a good thing since after spending the last year and a half living in a “no kill” animal shelter in Santa Barbara he loves nothing more than just hanging around with us. Read more ›

Posted in Accountability, blogs, Canine, Dog, Labrador, Leadership, Learning, Lessons, Pit Bull

Plus Delta’s CEO Leads Nation’s Diversity & Inclusion Leaders in Mapping their Change Journeys

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Later this month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Plus Delta’s Founder and CEO Dr. Jeremy Lurey will join an esteemed faculty at the Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity. Hosted by the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, the Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity is the largest diversity and inclusion (D&I) conference in the United States, and it provides a compelling learning experience fostering business and thought leadership in workplace diversity and inclusion. 

This year, Dr. Lurey joins a team of experienced change management professionals at one of the pre-conference events to strengthen senior D&I leaders’ individual capabilities for leading complex organizational change initiatives. Dr. Lurey will focus on the essentials of change management and share Plus Delta’s proven Positive ChangeSM approach for managing organizational change efforts with the conference participants. Read more ›

Posted in Change management, Diversity, Inclusion, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Multicultural Forum, Opus College of Business, organizational change, University of St. Thomas, Workplace Diversity

Top Ten Signs that Your Organizational Change Effort is Already Doomed!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

As an expert in successfully implementing positive changes in organizations, I can share some pretty nasty horror stories with you all about organizational changes that have gone awry. Let’s face it. Up to 80% of all organizational changes do fail in one way or another, so the odds are actually stacked in favor of a horror story rather than a success.

The following are the top 10 reasons I have experienced as to why these organizational changes fail. If even a few of these are present with your existing initiatives, give us a call. It’s not too late to avert the disaster! Read more ›

Posted in Change management, Communications, Executive Sponsorship, Failure, organizational change, Organizational Change Management, success, System Implementation, Training, Transition

-er Is Not Always -er

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Bigger, better, faster, stronger… Is it really? I’m starting to wonder about that!

As you may have read in previous blog posts, I’m a fairly driven, Type A, achievement-oriented kind of person. Actually, saying it like that doesn’t even scratch the surface on how I’m wired. I left Big Firm consulting to start my own consulting practice by the time I turned 30. I was honored as a Top 40 Under 40 executive of the year not once but two times in a row before turning 40. And all this time, I’ve always strived for -er in my life. Read more ›

Posted in Achievement, Ambition, Balance, Composure, Goals, Peace of Mind, success

The Power of Transformation and Swinging Away

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

It amazes me how often I get wrapped up in my story about reality. “This sucks! Life couldn’t get any worse.” runs through my head just as often as “I am so blessed! Life couldn’t get any better.” What amazes me even more, though, is that both of those statements – and the sentiments behind them – can happen to me literally at the same time and about the same thing.

 

Some people relate to setbacks in their lives truly as setbacks. While I visit that deep, dark place from time to time, I choose not to stay there. Instead, I prefer to look at life’s disappointments and those events that don’t turn out the way I might like simply as opportunities to learn and grow.  Read more ›

Posted in Baseball, Home Run, Learning, Self-reflection, Strikeout, transformation

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