Author Archive for: LAI SHYAN CHIN

I was opening our Vital Farms egg carton, and a little flier popped out. It featured the story of their hen Eager Emmy on the front, and on the back was a gratitude note to fill in and send to someone. It said: “Every day, simply by being hens, our girls bring good into the world. We bet there’s someone

It’s no secret companies spy on their staff. A recent New York Times article stated that eight of the 10 largest American companies surveil their employees with tracking software. According to The Washington Post, global demand for employee monitoring tools increased by 65% from 2019 to 2022. The rise of remote work has made corporate leaders paranoid, thinking they must

The quality of your questions determines the quality of your thinking. And when I started thinking about how I could grow my business, these were some of the questions I asked myself: How can I begin to replace myself? How can I get out of the truck? The questions weren’t easy to answer, but they transformed my leadership on a

Carving out time for learning and development is critical for anyone who wants to improve their leadership competencies and performance outcomes. Yet finding the time for it is hard for many managers. With looming deadlines, daily tasks, and urgent meetings, learning to lead can often take the back burner. But advancing yourself doesn’t have to be excessively time-consuming. In fact,

The higher road to being a good leader is a courageous journey; it’s walking the talk of character and integrity, and there are no shortcuts.  Good leaders who choose this journey know they can’t succeed without learning from others, especially what it means to serve for the good of others. Leaders learn to become leaders by modeling servant leadership, and they continue to learn in their roles

You may recall the iconic 2013 Gallup study that found that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. While that research was conducted almost 10 years ago, the adage holds up today. Over the last few years, I’ve been consulting with companies on how to “bring their human” to the world of hybrid work, which helped me begin to see

Most of us work with a jerk—toxic people who seem hellbent on making our lives, well, hell. But here’s the good news: You don’t have to be completely beholden to their poisonous ways. It turns out toxic coworkers often operate by the same tired playbook. And once you identify and understand what type of work jerk you’re dealing with, you’ll

It used to be that technical proficiency was the main quality that was desired when it came to leadership. And while technical proficiency is important, it is now considered an entry level skill that is necessary to get your foot in the door. Besides, many jobs are now so complex that we need to rely on a team of competent

And whether you intend to, you start establishing your culture from day one. Unfortunately, many businesses are so focused on developing their product or service that culture evolves without intentional direction, eventually causing problems. Low morale, unproductive employees, high turnover, and client attrition are signs that you might need a culture shift. While changing direction mid-stream presents challenges, a great