BECAUZ

06/05/2018

"Leaders are people that don't shy away from things. They get comfortable by being uncomfortable." - Ian McKelvie

http://www.becauz.com/video-leadership-conference/

“Leaders are people that don’t shy away from things. They get comfortable by being uncomfortable.” – Ian McKelvie

05/14/2018

http://www.becauz.com/change-communications/

Why do companies have such abysmal records in effecting and managing change? Poor change communications can be a contributing obstacle.

01/08/2018

Oprah – you brought yourself fully – who you’ve ever been and who you will ever be to the world tonight! You are one of the world’s best communicators – a master @ moving humanity.

One of BECAUZ’s deepest and most profound Learning Experiences is called "Presentation Playground" where we take a group of Executives through a rigorous, edgy and transformational 2 day storytelling and public speaking “furnace”. They are unrecognizable as communicators and leaders by the end – and our team is moved and inspired by the massive ground taken. I’ve never seen anything like it and the folklore is legendary as people become their most authentic, funny, powerful and heartful selves. People take their own breath away!

We’ve always used Oprah as an example but after tonight’s Golden Globe Awards – I’m wondering who else we can use now! Oprah is peerless and profound.

01/02/2018

Good Morning 2018. Happy New Year to all of our clients, friends and associates across the globe. May 2018 bring you peace, prosperity and growth.

10/10/2017

"We have to reengineer the s**t out of our own brains" - quote and fascinating talk from Dr. Christof Koch, President of the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

The reason? We need to be able to increase our performance to compete with our AI creations and ensure our species survival. Who is up for it?

10/10/2017

GeekWire Summit - looking forward to learning and an amazing week with the Geekwire crew, Kevin Johnson from Starbucks and Satya from Microsoft. Chris Schmidt from Moss Adams is here too. Let's hear it for tech in Seattle!

08/07/2017

Good Morning Seattle! Amazing location to hold a Strategic Retreat. What are you doing with your Leadership Team to ensure Results, Relevance and Reinvention?

07/23/2017

https://www.inc.com/michael-schneider/google-thought-they-knew-how-to-create-the-perfect.html?cid=cp01002fastco

Our clients and friends at Google endeavored to crack and codify the secrets of team effectiveness. They predicted that bringing the best of the best, the smartest of the smartest – together in a well engineered, well-funded environment would create magic.

They were dead wrong. In the 180+ teams they dissected – they found no clear patterns, no dream team generating algorithm and no guaranteed ways of engineering high-performing teams. One of the things I love about Google is the share what they find, even when their hypothesis initially was wrong!

This is what we’d call using a technical or tried-and-true approach to an adaptive or learning problem. What we miss as leaders is the critical systemic nature of our teams and organizations. What we don’t see, unless we get an aerial view, is the complexity and criticality of the interrelatedness between people, teams and organizations. The DNA we need to crack is in the space between people - the intangibles of how they relate, collaborate, conflict, reward, exchange, request, offer and interact at a humanistic and cultural level.

We call it “Being in the Soup ”.

What will it take to leverage our leadership, relationships and conversations so we become a force multiplier and a championship team? We’ve got to stop trying to engineer teams and instead - lead them.

We start by upgrading our agreements and codifying our norms.
Then it is vital to hold myself and my teammates accountable to two things:
First: The RESULTS I’m generating. Owning my RESULTS.
Second: The IMPACT I’m causing as I’m interacting - the good, the bad, the ugly. For this I am going to need feedback and you’re gonna need it too.

In our experience “Cooking the Soup of Intangibles ” creates the clarity, dependability, safety, meaning and purpose that Google deemed essential. Then we’re all leading - being force multipliers and creating impact we never dreamed of …… and we've done it very successfully with several Alphabet Teams.

Insights from Google's new study could forever change how teams are assembled.

06/17/2017

Congratulations to our clients and friends @ Boeing. Your 737 900 Max is stunning next to the Dreamliner in Paris Air Show teaser - take a look https://youtu.be/nmefnkTvWIw

05/21/2017

You'll get my full support behind a sports league that promotes "selfless pursuit, constant practice, and lifting teammates up". Great day with Magnolia Lacrosse - who know that kids are most coachable on the field of play. The big kids we coach see work as the field of play that has them master the same mindset and skill set.

05/05/2017

In Philadelphia. Great week with a CIO and Leadership Team! Technology is moving so fast along with customer expectations being set by Amazon and Google. Challenging for the smaller shops to keep up - let alone Innovate. It is possible but it takes leadership, trust and teamwork - all pulling in the same direction.

04/27/2017

Transformation is now an overused term that has become a business buzzword. It’s not just the new word for tectonic change! Transformation us means a radical alteration at the DNA level that cannot be reversed. Once wood gets pressurized and heated to become coal and once coal gets transformed into diamonds - they can never go back to their simpler form. When a leadership team’s DNA gets cracked and an organizational culture gets tethered to principles over buzzwords - they too get transformed - and can never go back!

04/26/2017

Generating Value with Innovation

04/26/2017

Leadership & Team Development

04/20/2017

It has been one of the grayest, rainiest winters in Seattle! Sometimes just getting above the fog and punching through the clouds provides clarity and direction. When is the last time you got your team out of the fog, out of the office and into the sun?

04/13/2017

When people find out who we work with, they frequently ask if we’ve ever been to Bill Gates’ home and conference facility on Lake Washington. Many times 😊. Well at least within 500 feet of it!

04/06/2017

Being an aviator and helicopter pilot gives me a much different perspective on navigating change, and understanding how ecosystems are interconnected. Whenever our clients get stuck in patterned ways of thinking, approaching challenges and accelerating growth - we rapidly develop a broader, aerial view by adding a third and fourth dimension and then get a fresh perspective. New patterns, approaches and growth strategies emerge from a “balcony view” or transformed viewpoint.
Struggling to get a fresh perspective on your organization, marketplace or performance? Get up above it and develop your inner strategy helicopter!

03/31/2017

We’ve been working on our new website for a year. What was supposed to be a refresh - with a simpler approach and much less content - has turned out to be a complete redo. We are close and expecting to have something to show you in April (of this year). Great reminder that there are three dimensions to growth in the digital age: 1) Investing 2) Creating and 3) Optimizing. We over-indexed on optimizing and had to slow down to Invest and Create.

03/24/2017

Boeing Dreamliner Design Center – a real treat – thanks Boeing. Didn’t realize that aircraft interiors are a key differentiator ~ especially business class and bathrooms. Some 1st Class and Business Class configurations cost upwards of $500,000 a seat!

03/16/2017

Starbucks obsession with the Experience ~ Remember when global coffee sales were declining back in the 80’s? Starbucks has transformed the face of the planet by becoming our “3rd Place”. Here are the Principles behind their Experience Design Thinking. Are you using Design Thinking in your business? We are and it is transforming the learning possible with our clients!

03/09/2017

Another amazing day with Expedia ~ love working alongside world class leaders that are transforming markets and experiences.

03/02/2017

This guy doesn't need a reason to get his needs met. He demands it! The rest of us could do with a bit of selfishness and coaching. Are you clear on what you want and do you have a roadmap to get it?

02/24/2017

Want the BECAUZ formula for building a championship team? Here it is: Technical Development + Leadership and Personal Development plus Accountability/ Measures inside a closed context - Team Code and Culture. There it is - predictable results! Needs a driver / accelerator. Is that you?

02/16/2017

Blending Whiskey and building teams are remarkably similar. Blending science, art and human factors ..... in a specific context and then "voila," magic.

02/08/2017

Stimulating quote from a respected source. It doesn’t let leaders off the hook from being technically excellent but does drive the need for us to continually develop ourselves in the realms of communication, leadership and relationships to create impact @ scale.

02/03/2017

Setting a powerful and action oriented context for an offsite requires an impeccable space. Same old meeting room .... same old meeting. Transformation of a business model and senior team takes a different level of prep, context and facilitation. Welcome to our play space for the next couple of days.

01/11/2017

Designing leadership offsites with the talented BECAUZ Design Team!

12/19/2016

Not a bad location for a PaaS start up we’re helping to pivot and re-imagine. Seattle is really becoming “Cloud City”.

12/13/2016

Congratulations to Our Clients for launching Waymo ~ Alphabet / Google's self-driving car company! John Kravcik and Team, we are honored to be navigating with you on this transformational journey that will benefit the globe.