One of the most controversial issues for senior living staff is whether CPR-trained staff and off-the-wall defibrillators should be used.

Trust is not a soft metric. It is the foundation everything else is built on. And right now, most organizations are making the problem worse.

The problem is that they are only seeing the part of the culture that is right in front of them. They are not seeing the entire picture.

Team members, prospects, and customers are not starting from neutral when they interact with you. They’re starting from “prove it.”

If senior living is to thrive and improve the lives of aging Americans, we have to change the perception, and the occasional reality, of the industry.

What we have here is not a conference. It is the Met Gala. With better food, worse fashion, and nobody willing to admit they got dressed for the occasion.

This exercise comes from summer camp. It is exceedingly simple and elegant, and it will do amazing things for your organization.

Answer these questions honestly, and it becomes surprisingly easy to see whether you are truly fulfilling your purpose.

Sometimes, the right thing is the wrong thing in the eyes of those in authority. That’s a lesson that might be trained up the hierarchy.

It’s a hard truth, but we are all performing. Every day. In every meeting, every conversation, every decision we make in front of other people.

Many mergers start out with optimism and hope and end up as something else. No wonder mergers, and rumors of mergers, can be anxiety producing.

Have you ever grown fast, only to realize the culture you started with is becoming a casualty of that growth? The NIC Growth Conference is the place to be.

There are many organizations that say things like “customers first,” but nearly every interaction with those organizations proves they don’t mean it.

We humans are at our best when disaster strikes. That’s when peers come together without corporate structure to help each other.

Companies are doing team building by building human towers. Actual human towers. Do these kinds of activities actually build teams?

I want to believe that as a leader, you are noticing the good things your people are doing. And if you’re not, this is exactly what we need to talk about.

Real leadership development is ongoing, contextualized, and honest about where a leader actually is, not where they think they are.

Ask anyone walking out of a conference how it went. Amazing. Wonderful. Best one yet. Maybe they all meant it. And maybe not!

We can all benefit if we mobilize the talent in our midst as human beings. Let’s tell the industry leaders that we are better when we work together.

“Be a servant leader.” “Lead with your heart.” “Listen more.” Sure — but what does a leader do on Monday morning?

I grew up in a conservative religious family with a father who was critical of everything. For a long time, I thought he gave me nothing but wounds.

After six years of staff meetings, trainings, and framed mission statements, the best she could come up with was more of a guess than a conviction.

Conventional wisdom says high returns and margins equal excellence. But when you focus on margins, your thinking is always short-term.

I’m talking about leaders who, no matter how successful they are, constantly strive to be better. We would be transforming the world of aging.