Adam McLane

Tag: trust

  • High-trust, low-control

    A movement cannot grow in a low-trust, high-control environment.  But a dictatorship can. (Cuba) A corporation can. (McDonald’s) A gang can. (Al Capone) In a low-trust, high-control environment leadership is supreme. Decisions flow from top to bottom. A high value is placed on replication and copying and perfecting. Efficiency is more important than individualism. And…

  • Hype

    Here’s a little lesson on hype for all my wanna-be self-promoter friends. If you hype something you’ve got a vested interest in it’ll come off as fake. If someone else hypes it for you, even if you lose some level of control, it’ll go a lot better. Three examples: I follow hundreds of pastors on…

  • Bottlenecks, rubberneckers, and other people who slow you down

    Every commuter in Chicago is familiar with the Hillside Strangler. Prior to the early 2000s, this section of interstate where two major 6-lanes of highway merged onto a 3-lane onramp to a 5-lane city-bound highway doubled the commute of everyone. 11 lanes of traffic don’t merge into 5 lanes very well. The Hillside Strangler was…

  • Snake bit

    Darkness creeps in at weird moments. A comment. A ungaurded remark by the wrong person. A glance or a stare that you can’t get an explanation for. All of those are things that can set me off inexplicably. Normally, I’m pretty happy-go-lucky. Why do those tiny things trigger the my mind so wildly? I wonder…

  • Putting your worst foot forward

    Which of these introductions garners the most trust to you? Hello, my name is Adam McLane. Thank you for inviting me here today. As an expert in my field, I look forward to sharing with you this morning 7 insights which will revolutionize ________. Hi. I’m Adam. I guess you’ve invited me here this morning…

  • Let’s Clarify our Relationship

    Dearest blog reader, It’s tough for me to write these words. Yet our affair is such that I think we need to clarify our relationship. It’s been pretty muddy as of late and I feel as though you are beginning to disdain me. And my ambivalence towards your disdain may not be helping matters. I…

  • Don’t Promise, Deliver

    If you live in the United States, you are the proud owner of the second largest pool of retirees next to the federal government. And as a bonus you also get a small and dying breed of cars formally known as General Motors. We just spent over $80 billion to bailout a company that is…

  • Discretion as a Virtue

    Discretion: dis-cre-tion [di-skresh-uhn] link 1. the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice: It is entirely within my discretion whether I will go or stay. 2. the quality of being discreet, esp. with reference to one’s own actions or speech; prudence or decorum: Throwing all…