By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you problem solve when time is running out. Reading time: 1:58.

The game is on the line. The clock is ticking down like a time bomb. You’re frenzied, fazed and fried. You’re the team leader. You’ve got the ball in your hands.

It’s all up to you but suddenly you are frozen in frustration. Unable to think, unable to move. Paralyzed in your performance. Supersized in your fear. What do you do?

Call a Time-Out.

That’s what they do in sports. Can that tactic work in business too?

Let’s consider a very disciplined business –the military — where rules rule 24/7.

It’s 1832 when a lanky lad of 23 is marching his soldiers as a newly promoted captain in the United States militia during the Black Hawk War. His troops are marching 20 abreast when they come upon a narrow gate.

Uh-Oh! The captain forgot the command to move his men into single file so they could pass through the gate. Now what?

Abraham Lincoln called a Time- Out and then resumed the march on the other side of the gate. Continue reading →