Bill Fournet - Author, Speaker, Executive Coach

Great time in Green Bay last week, where I had the pleasure of opening the Manufacturing First Conference & Expo with my “Lead for Tomorrow” keynote. The team at Insight Publications put on a fantastic event, which was clearly evident with this year’s record-breaking attendance of more than 1,300 manufacturing professionals and suppliers.

Thanks again to everyone involved including Acuity Insurance for sponsoring my keynote and to Image Studios for these photos.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was devoted to service, fairness, equality, and justice. What are you doing to honor his legacy?

If we’ve learned anything from the last few years, it’s that disruption and change will happen, whether we like it or not. The question for leaders is: Are you and your team prepared to respond to whatever might be around the bend?

We’ve seen that disruption often leads to a loss of control. It’s important to recognize, however, that while change is constant, chaos is a choice.

While there is no silver bullet, the ability to react to changing situations with consistency and discipline enables us to dampen the effects of disruption. In this new blog, I share three steps leaders can use to create discipline.

https://buff.ly/3XnhJmh

Chaos is a Choice | Bill Fournet Business leaders can conquer chaos with consistency and discipline. They key is to see disruption as an opportunity and evolve quickly with discipline.

Read anything good lately? Reading has always been a favorite pastime of mine, for both business and pleasure. Each year, I typically make a list of the books that impacted me the most.

But amidst all the disruption, and ahead of the seemingly constant uncertainty for 2023, I have been returning to some of the books that were fundamental in shaping my leadership approach. This is an eclectic list I realize, and not a traditional end-of-year review, but it is a selection of the top 5 influential books that have had a profound impact on me, with insights and perspectives that continue to challenge my thinking.

Have you read any of these? I’d love to hear from you and would also welcome any recommendations on your favorite books, old and new, fiction and non-fiction!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Read Anything Good Lately? My Top 5 List of Favorite Books | Bill Fournet An eclectic selection of top 5 influential books that have had a profound impact on me, with insights and perspectives that continue to challenge my thinking.

This award means so much to all of us at The Persimmon Group. For every woman who works at Persimmon now, and to those who have helped us along the way these past 18 years, thank you! Management consulting has long been a male-dominated industry. Creating an environment where women can break those barriers and thrive was no accident. And we did it through the help of amazing women, from our leadership team to our consultants to our HR and Business Development teams, to our customer service and office staff representatives. Thank you! I love what this means for YOU. Be proud of yourselves, of your work, your families. I know I am...

Thank you YWCA Tulsa and City of Tulsa Gov for this recognition!

Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite holiday. As Louisiana natives, my family kicked things off last night with a “Cajun Thanksgiving." We love to cook, and we are definitely “foodies.” So today will be just as robust!

But it’s more than the sharing of delicious food that makes this holiday special: It’s the act of being present and grateful. Every year, we hold our tradition of going around the table and saying our “thankfuls,” sharing what each of us appreciated most from this past year. Sometimes it’s the people in our lives, or acts of kindness we experienced, or just a general appreciation of the life we are living.

So here's to all of you-- my clients, partners, and friends. I hope you have a wonderful day! What are you thankful for?

The Persimmon Group has been recognized as the 5th Best Place to Work in Oklahoma in the small/medium category. Thank you to every single person in our company who helped make this happen! 100% of you participated in the anonymous, third-party administered survey; that in itself is a testament to the culture we have created together. This was based on a thorough review of our internal policies, benefits, and DEI practices. I am thankful to my leadership team, every employee, and all our clients and friends for the ongoing support and love you have shown Persimmon since we started 18 years ago…

And thank you to The Journal Record and the Best Companies Group for granting us this award.

When will we get back to the normalcy of a crisis-free day? To the days when we had time to “think” and communicate with coworkers outside our immediate team?

After nearly three years of constant disruption, many of us are likely asking these questions.

To help, I'm sharing four steps to take with your team-- to take a breath and inspire strategic thinking, even in times of instability.

Sharpen Your Saw: 4 Leadership Strategies to Give Your Team Think Time | Bill Fournet Your team members need time to reflect so they can improve performance. 4 steps to give teams think time even through uncertainty.

They say, “Travel makes you realize that no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn.”

In my life, I've had the opportunity to take two life-changing trips across Europe. More than 30 years ago as a college student, and then this summer with my wife and two of my sons. As I reflected on not only what has changed from 1990, but what is different as well as in common with society in the United States, themes began to emerge.

One thing is certain: The diversity of perspectives discovered through conversation is foundational to our ability to learn, innovate, and adapt. I share some initial reflections this week on the blog.

Watch for future articles addressing the importance of finding your community, mass transportation, innovation and inertia, and the benefits of a slower rhythm.

Here's to new adventures!

Then & Now: Important Lessons Learned from 2 European Journeys | Bill Fournet What can leaders learn from two European journeys-- taken 30 years apart? Several themes emerged, as Bill Fournet reflects in this blog.

I am happy to be back in Basel, Switzerland this week working with a client. A beautiful city with incredibly friendly people.

Travel is just one way you can gain a fresh perspective. What are you doing this week to change your scenery or discover a different viewpoint?

Purpose-driven leadership has always been important to me, so I was grateful for the opportunity to talk with Karen Bailey on the Corporate Purpose Podcast. What started as a conversation about navigating burnout and overwhelm turned into an exploration of the changing state of business.

Some topics we discussed:

- The signs of burnout and strategies for overcoming it.
- My personal experience with burnout and how that was a catalyst for my work today helping executives and teams manage disruption. - Trends that are causing us to rethink the status quo.
- The debate around hybrid and remote work and why time has surpassed money as our primary work driver.

I encourage you to tune in, and please be sure to follow Karen and subscribe to the Corporate Purpose Podcast! And for more techniques on Beating Burnout, you can download my eBook at the link below in comments.



https://thecorporatepurposepodcast.com/episodes/navigating-disruption-and-burnout-with-bill-Bill Fournet - Author, Speaker, Executive Coach

Navigating Disruption and Burnout with Bill Fournet | The Corporate Purpose Podcast Bill Fournet (CEO and expert in business disruption) discusses the transformational state of business today and how burnout and overwhelm are affecting our people and our companies. Bill explains some of the generational and historical trends that are driving massive changes to the way we work. He a...

There’s no place like home. I was honored to spend time last week in my hometown of Enid, Oklahoma. Some of the most personally rewarding work I’ve done is with business and school leaders there to help them forge strategies for the future. It was especially exciting on Friday to tour the beautiful new Enid High School facilities with Dr. Darrell Floyd. Thank you, Autry Technology Center and Enid Public Schools. I look forward to returning soon to continue our work together.

Much of my work is spent helping clients on both strategy and culture. While they are both critical, I love seeing more and more leadership teams beginning to recognize the importance of culture. Having a great strategy is very important--so long as it's relatable and understandable at all levels in the organization. And in this Age of Disruption we are experiencing, it is sorely needed to create that North Star towards which we can align. But culture also must evolve in its tactics to ensure we will remain on the most effective path.

This week on my blog, I share the difference between core values and culture, along with a better approach for defining the culture you want and aligning your organization to it.

What do you think makes a great organizational culture?



https://billfournet.com/what-is-corporate-culture-and-why-it-really-matters/

What Is Corporate Culture and Why It Really Matters | Bill Fournet No doubt you’ve heard this Peter Drucker quote, but have you asked yourself, what does it mean for you and your organization? How do you define culture and align it […]

I never got the chance to meet my father, who died in Vietnam. Yet, he has taught me so many life lessons through his character and actions, through memories shared with me by his family and friends. We can’t begin to compare our legacies as business leaders to our military heroes. But we can ask ourselves, “What do we want to leave behind, pass on, and be remembered for?”

https://buff.ly/3ab1MvR

What I Learned About Legacy from the Man I Never Met | Bill Fournet As we recognize Memorial Day, we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in duty to their nation in war. My father, 1LT Douglas B. Fournet, is one of those we remember.

This past week, I’ve seen the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, driven through olive groves, flown to a different continent, watched the Liverpool match with UK friends in a pub in London, and backpacked the beautiful hills of Zink ranch with more than 50 fellow Scouters. I have met incredible people, shared inspiring experiences and stories, and been reminded of what an amazing world this can be.

There’s no doubt that the past few years have been hard on all of us. We’re living through unprecedented uncertainty. To put it bluntly, people are burned out. I recognize the signs because I, too, was once in a state of overwhelm and exhaustion.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! I invite you to start your journey to renewed engagement, purpose, and peace by taking one of my Beating Burnout assessments-- for individuals or teams. After, you'll receive a free copy of my new Beating Burnout eBook, with tips to help you find relief and avoid burnout.

Find the assessments at the link below. I’d love to hear from you and know how you are doing. I am here if you have questions or want to talk about what you or your team are experiencing.
https://billfournet.com/burnout/

Thank you to the NATIONAL COIL COATING ASSOCIATION for inviting me to deliver the keynote at your annual meeting. It was great to be in Sonoma with you today to share strategies to help your members Lead for Tomorrow and learn how to thrive in this Age of Disruption.

The sky is NOT falling. Yet chances are, you may have a Chicken Little on your team who thinks it is. This is the person who catastrophizes, for whom everything is urgent and requires immediate attention. But when everything is urgent, nothing really is.

As a leader, you can help your Chicken Little distinguish between priority and urgency. Read my blog (link below) for some questions that can help you peel back layers and get to the root of the problem.

Have you successfully helped a team member navigate the difference between priority and urgency?

https://lnkd.in/eZB2sjbe

As we continue to experience the effects of the Great Resignation, it’s more important than ever to celebrate workplace victories. Recognition for individuals and teams helps to retain top talent, increase employee engagement, and encourage high performance. An employee who has been recognized is 63% more likely to stay at his or her current job within the next three to six months, according to one study.

In my new blog (link below), I share what constitutes a workplace victory worthy of recognition, and six ways to recognize the wins.

What say you? How do you celebrate victories at work?

https://billfournet.com/beating-the-great-resignation-how-to-celebrate-success-at-work/

As an avid backpacker and Scout leader, I have led many groups through the backcountry. Those experiences are rich with lessons that I learn and apply in my work to improve organizational performance.

In this current Age of Disruption—where the only certainty is constant change—I find a fundamental truth from backpacking helps leaders and organizations craft more resilient strategies: the value and distinction between the map and the terrain.

When preparing for a trek, the map is my guide—it enables me to plan where I want to camp, shows where there are trails and water, and indicates where elevations change. But what looks good on paper doesn’t always look the same on the trail. The terrain is the reality: the quality of the trail, the amount of loose rock, the weather impact. These affect your “plan,” and you must be willing to adapt to the terrain in the moment, while keeping your map as your general guide.

What does this look like in a business? At work, we seek consistency through processes and procedures. Those are our maps. Our customers, our markets, and the ever-changing world around us, these make up our terrain. Sometimes the terrain remains as expected. Sometimes it is disrupted by a storm or other event. And COVID-19 has been a hurricane-tornado-tsunami storm.

This week in my newsletter, I share 3 key challenges for leaders. You can read it at the link below. What issues are you seeing arise as a result of disruption?

https://lnkd.in/eY7QMWiQ

May we remember the character and courage of Dr. King and the wisdom he gave us. We do need voices like his to rise in our world today.

The Great Realization:
Why 2022 May Be the Most Pivotal Year in Modern History

As we reflect on 2021 and look forward to 2022, I hope you and your family are safe and well.

As part of my reflection, I focus on what I expected from the year and how it met expectations. After all, we stepped into 2021 after some of the darkest months of the pandemic. In January, the world suffered from high hospitalization and infection rates, while questions about the future economy and COVID impacts fueled continued uncertainty. But we also saw the hope in the form of vaccines getting us and the economy back to “normal.”

Many have referred to 2021 as the “Great Reset,” but I think of it more as “the Great Realization and Reckoning.” By “Realization,” I mean that we've recognized that there will never be a full return to our “old normal." The virus likely will be with us going forward in some degree. It will continue to disrupt parts of our workplace, economy, and personal lives.

We also realized from the pandemic that our time and control had gotten away from us. The shift to working from home led us to reflect on our priorities and life balance. Many realized just how many hours they’d lost in long commutes and sitting in meetings of little value...

For some, this Reckoning led to leaving their current job or retiring (aka the Great Resignation).

Meanwhile, massive supply chain disruptions caused global chaos. For some industries and businesses, this Reckoning has been catastrophic. As leaders, we evaluated how well we adapted to the disruption. This also led to a Realization of where our teams may have been complacent, and how new risks require new approaches.

I believe these Realizations have led to some Reckonings that are still unfolding. What we do with the lessons of 2021 as we step into 2022 will define the next decade, and potentially, the next generation.

Think of it like a football game where we come in with a certain expectation of how the game will play out, but we got surprised in the first half, and found ourselves in the locker room at halftime devising a new game plan for the second half.

How we adapt and work together through our “second half” will define us. This is why I strongly believe that 2022 will be one of the most pivotal years in our modern history.

More than 15 years ago, when I first studied the underlying factors that were building up for disruption, there were three primary factors that were driving us toward increased uncertainty and change: generational shifts, technological change, and globalization.

Today, I see a multitude of factors driving us beyond these three—creating increased complexity of how choices can lead to unintended consequences. And this requires a new level of agility and adaptation for our organizations to remain resilient.

Here is my short list of additional factors I see facing leaders in 2022 and beyond:

- Evolving the meaning of work and the workplace, while sustaining employee engagement and retention.
- Responding to the immediate supply chain and logistical challenges, while developing long-term strategies to mitigate their future impact.
- Responding to rising geopolitical tensions with Russia and China, with space potentially becoming the new arms race.
- Addressing long-term income and social inequities with short-term inflationary and social equity principles.
- Re-establishing trust in facts and information to re-develop empathy in our community and society.

Despite this list of incredible challenges, I have optimism in our future. But it must start with you and with me. We can’t just “hope” others will take care of it for us.

Our younger generations are weary of meaningless talk. They want to see action to build the future for tomorrow. Working closely with Gen Z and Millennials, I'm amazed by their brilliance and approach to making change happen. Including them in the conversations and enabling them to make a difference in our organizations as quickly as possible could become a key factor to success in the New Year.

I also believe corporate leaders and their companies taking stands on key social and moral issues are providing voices and vision in a sometimes directionless desert. We need more of this as we try to decide who we want to be going forward instead of who we've been in the past.

And underlying all of this are the technology innovations that can change the world we live in. From VTOL aircraft to breakthroughs in energy creation and storage of new materials, I am excited about what's next.

2021 reminded us that the world can be “heavy.” We weren't going to just snap back into the “normal” we had before 2020. That’s unrealistic thinking. There have been societal and technological factors at play for more than a decade prior to the pandemic that have been amplified and accelerated these past two years. The year 2022 is our halftime adjustment.

Ask yourself: What is your Great Realization and Reckoning, and what do you need to do reset your second half?

Happy Holidays! Here's to a happy and successful New Year!

I'm already thinking ahead to next week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Every year, we hold our tradition of going around the table and saying our “thankfuls”— sharing what each of us appreciated most from this past year. Sometimes it’s the people in our lives, or acts of kindness we experienced, or just a general appreciation of the life we are living.

But did you know that sharing our “thankfuls” actually improves our health and performance? There's been extensive research on the power of gratitude and how it affects us emotionally, mentally, and physically. According to a study cited on PositivePsychology.com, “Participants who felt grateful showed a marked reduction in the level of the stress hormone, cortisol. They had better cardiac functioning and were more resilient to emotional setbacks and negative experiences.”

How do you make gratitude a priority all year?

First, remember to say “thank you” to the people you work with each day. This basic act, per a recent Harvard Medical School article, can have profound impact on people, from increasing their engagement levels, to reducing their stress and errors. Even thanking someone mentally (without sharing it with them) has a positive impact on you.

Second, periodically reflect on your life and write down the things for which you are grateful. This has two effects: 1) It improves your well-being, and 2) It increases positivity and happiness.

Here are 3 simple ways you can express gratitude.

1) Take 30 minutes this Thanksgiving (pre-food coma 😊) to stop and reflect on your past year and those things for which you are thankful.
2) Send a Thanksgiving “thankful” email or better yet, a handwritten card, to those at work. This doesn’t need to be time consuming. Just share a brief a sentence or two of what and why you are grateful for them.
3) Express your feelings for your loved ones and share your “thankfuls” at your Thanksgiving dinner.

Feel the stress decrease and note how you feel mentally, emotionally, and physically, because of it.

What do you do to express gratitude... not only on Thanksgiving, but year-round?

The absence of strong leadership in business can be a real challenge, especially in times of disruption, like we’re experiencing now. Here's where you can find new leaders... and how to cultivate next-gen leaders from your current team.

What leadership development strategies have you found to be successful?



https://billfournet.com/leadership-gap-how-to-identify-and-develop-your-future-business-leaders/

Leadership Gap: How to Identify and Develop Your Future Business Leaders - Bill Fournet The absence of strong leadership in business can be a real challenge, especially in times of disruption, like we’re experiencing now.

There’s a reason why so many of us love the fall. But it’s not just the turning of the leaves, the crisp air, and that nip in the morning... For me, fall is my favorite reflection time—reviewing the year to date as I prepare for the year to come.

Let’s start by focusing on what you can do right now for improved team performance! The PowerPlay™ I share (see link below) shows you how to conduct an exercise that will help you and your team identify a root-cause problem or challenge, not just a symptom. Do this to find out where you can sharpen performance to set the stage for your 2022 vision and objectives.

https://billfournet.com/whats-your-problem/

Remember, winter may be coming, but you can settle into it with confidence knowing you’ve laid the groundwork this autumn.

Spent today doing one of the things I love most: a deep-dive strategic program for the Broken Arrow Chamber members. I shared how to find the stability to thrive– not just survive– in this time of constant change.

Thank you to Jennifer Conway and the whole chamber team for inviting me to be a part of the Leadership Collective.

Climbing the corporate ladder has traditionally been seen as a marker of success. But the nature of work is changing, and many millennials are now rethinking whether climbing the corporate ladder is really worth it after spending their early careers burning out on limited opportunities.

This article explores some reasons why, and also how the pandemic could change millennials’ paths to leadership.

Are you seeing this trend in your organization?

https://lnkd.in/d6cDSzfY

Older millennials made it to management—now they're wondering if they even want to be the boss After spending their early careers burning out on limited opportunities, older millennials are rethinking whether climbing the corporate ladder is worth it.

The speed of change to our markets, workforce, and technologies are more profound now than any other time in history – with no signs of slowing down. To help you future-proof your strategy so you can thrive, and not just survive, in these challenging times, join me tomorrow in Broken Arrow. I will show you how to multiply workforce productivity while sharing techniques to beat burnout and improve your work-life balance. Thank you Broken Arrow Chamber for inviting me to work with your members and community.