Bill Berthel, Author at Emergent

Navigating Meeting Rabbit Holes blog cover image

Bill Berthel

Have you ever been in a meeting where the agenda was not well followed, or else completely ignored? Maybe there wasn’t a formal agenda in the first place, but just a vague sense of why the meeting was called. And maybe you’ve experienced the frustration of facilitating a meeting that gets side-tracked by seemingly random…

Unintended Consequences blog cover image

Bill Berthel

I’m an aspiring naturalist. Whenever I can, I enjoy the beauty of the outdoors by hiking, biking, fishing, and kayaking. But I’ve become increasingly aware that my time in nature results in unintended consequences. As a Boy Scout, I learned and practiced the value of leaving a place better than you found it. My father…

Bill Berthel

Newness is relative. When a scientist discovers a “new” plant or insect, they are, in reality, finally noticing a neighbor who’s been on the block much longer than we have. The flora and fauna that evolved here in North America were new to the ancients who made their way from Asia, and new once again…

Dissension is Not the Lack of Unity blog post image

Bill Berthel

So many of us fear dissension. We want harmony. We want everything to go smoothly, like a well-oiled machine, one of the business world’s favorite analogies. Though we know in our minds that conflict can be very productive and useful, our emotions tend to take precedence. Many people fear conflict, and expend a great deal…

Bill Berthel

I recently recorded a podcast with Newell Eaton, a colleague and close friend of mine, during which we discussed the Power of Not Knowing. As leaders, we often achieve roles with power and responsibility due to our subject-matter expertise–our specialized knowledge and abilities to solve problems with efficient and creative solutions. It is our job…

Bill Berthel

In preparation for an important presentation to a potential client, I found myself looking at a blank PowerPoint slide deck, not knowing where to start. Much like when I begin most of my writing, the blank page stares back at me, taunting me, telling me it has to be perfect, as perfect as the page…

Bill Berthel

Mindfulness practices are a great way to create a small but meaningful counterbalance to the hectic nature of life and leadership. Meditation, an elongated strategic pause in activity and thinking, is probably the most well-known. But many people enjoy more active mindfulness practices such as yoga, or, as I like to call it, “my morning…

Bill Berthel

Connection is a bit like money. If you have enough of it, you take it for granted. But when you’re missing it, endless challenges result, and you are reminded of its irreplaceable value. I was recently struggling to create a new performance management model for a client. I couldn’t figure out what the client’s team…

Bill Berthel

When drafting a piece for the Emergent blog, I tend to use the voice-to-text function on my iPhone and then later find the note and coax it into coherence, to then share with our in-house team of editors to make it fit for public consumption. These are the blogs I like best to write. The…

Bill Berthel

My colleague Erika Davis and I were recently guests on Alex Canavan’s podcast, Cultivate. Alex is an impressive young leader here in Syracuse with a passion for bringing people together. Her focus is on female leaders, and she herself has a voracious appetite for learning and development, an attribute all successful leaders share. The focus…

Get Started Today!