Jay Perry's Blog

Many management practices stem from command-control models of organizations. The bosses command, and the troops are supposed to follow.

Sadly, this approach doesn’t line up with the reality of current-day challenges. We don’t live in a predictable world that operates like a Swiss watch. Managers don’t and can’t have all of the answers. Similarly, employees, especially younger generations, don’t want to be cogs in the corporate structure.

For years, my colleague Meg Wheatley, author of “Leader...

Is there something that you want to have happen in your career, organization, or life? What’s getting in your way? Of course, significant changes encounter many perceived and real obstacles. The critical question is what are you doing about them?

In his new book “Triggers,” Marshall Goldsmith highlights the big gap between planning and doing. He describes six “engaging questions” that he invites participants to ask themselves each day for ten working days. Each question begins with “Did I do...

Can obstacles actually accelerate your progress? Yes!

Rather than fearing or fleeing from obstacles, we can embrace them for the opportunities they offer. They enable us to accelerate our progress. Hmm. How is that possible? What is it about obstacles that actually help us move forward – if we approach them properly?

Iasked an inspiring group of clients those questions. They had just practiced shifting their response to obstacles with a spirit of “How fascinating! And, now I have the opportun...

We celebrate people who overcome obstacles to accomplish important objectives. They are people like Daniel Kish who taught himself to ride a bike using echolocation even though he’s blind, Oprah Winfrey whose media power has positively affected millions even though she experienced an abusive childhood, and Richard Branson who learned how to overcome the challenges of dyslexia to become one of the most storied entrepreneurs in the world.

So, what enables some people to overcome, indeed, thrive...

It’s normal to feel that the bloom is off the rose after a time on a new job. It’s what you do about it that determines whether you live in frustration or move forward in fulfilling ways.

Think of your talent and career like a story. It has many chapters. As in any good novel, you have some chapters that are fun and exhilarating and others that pose challenges you need to overcome. If you expect your job to be an unending bed of roses, you are bound for frustration … and, frankly, you won’t ha...

OK. You have an employer interested in you. Your interviews are going great. Now, you need to do a gut check on whether the job is for you. Is it a path to prosperous use of your talent or a bridge to nowhere?

So, here’s a key question for job applicants to ask themselves: “Do I want to just fill a job or do I want to grow a career?” If you want to grow a career, you’ll want to share what your hopes are for your talent and why those are important to you. Then, ask your prospective employer, “W...

Think of completing a successful job application like winning in Olympic gymnastics. You need to do the required moves, and you need to do something extra to stand out from the crowd.

In today’s job market, many people claim that they are experts in something because they want to be offered the job. This leaves employers wondering who really wants to do the job. You need to show how the job will be an opportunity for you to fulfill your hopes for your talent. Here’s what job applicants can do....

The fast-changing, uncertain environment in which we live requires risk taking. As a colleague commented, “If you are traveling from Los Angeles to New York City, you can’t wait for all of the stop lights to turn green before you start.”

Many who avoid risks in business fail to note that they take risks every day in many facets of their lives. For example, they face risks in choices they make about routes to work, what they eat for lunch, and the relationships they establish. So, what makes ri...

What do the coming years hold for the workforce?

The workforce will accelerate its progression into two broad groups: (a) those who are skilled and agile to navigate the whitewater rapids of swiftly changing conditions in diverse marketplaces and (b) those who get left behind in eddies outside the rapidly moving economy.

We’re seeing examples of this already with the hot market for software engineers in Silicon Valley contrasted with unemployed and underemployed persons waiting for someone to o...

There are two key questions to ensure that what you are doing will create meaning and joy for your life. Importantly, they are questions that you should have a generous listener ask you rather than mull over on your own.

Here are the questions:

1. “What are your hopes for your talent?” This open-ended question sparks the creative dimensions of our brains. As the poet Tracy K. Smith notes, “Hope is an idea with an engine.”

There are many things that people can do. What they really want to do will...