Category Archive for : ‘Values’

Or, How to Spot a Dictator in the Media (9 minute read)

I’ve been doing a bit of studying how fascist movements start and why so many seemingly good people abandon their values to follow power-hungry leaders. The parallels between 1930s Germany, Stalin and Putin’s Russia, and modern-day America are eerily similar.

Here are a “dozen dominoes” that are slightly terrifying along with a request for the days ahead.

1. Institutions Can’t Speak for Themselves, So Speak for Them

Do you love your college? Your local library? Your local public radio station? Good. Now

5 Minute Read

Do you remember Enron? What’s hard to fathom is that in 2001 their annual revenues were over $100 billion. They had over 20,000 employees and were one of the largest energy companies in the world. And none of that mattered. The corporation imploded in just a few months. You see, for years before that the top executives had been “cooking the books” and misleading the board of directors, shareholders, consumers and their employees.

Ironically, their stated values chiseled on the wall of their corporate headquarters were “respect, integrity, communication

I’m a big fan of “Welcome to Wrexham” a phenomenally popular show about a football team (soccer for you Americans) located in Wales. Recently it struck me how this club has the three essential elements for a dynamic, healthy culture and in huge proportions.

(Bonus piece at the end – it’s worth it!)

Ryan Reynolds (of Deadpool and many of other great movies) and Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) bought the Wrexham club during COVID. The show chronicles the clubs unbelievable love affair with football, and how after decades of

I have a client whose top leadership is very aware that they have employees that are “culture killers.” They’re not everywhere, and it’s not everyone, but there are enough people in the organization who are toxic that it’s having enormous negative implications.

On the upside, the leadership is also fully embracing a new process to assess and enhance the culture. They’re also not naïve that this is just some “project” or “motivational program” that can be accomplished overnight. This is a process that will take several years of consistent work with

by Brian Becker

I’m beginning a new series of posts about culture. Why? Because the more experiences I have as a consultant and executive coach, I realize that everything is affected by culture.

Peter Drucker, organizational guru for over 30 years was right when he said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how on-target your goals are or how much you want to succeed. If the culture is weak or dysfunctional, it will negatively affect everything!

Culture is the intangible made up by myriad forces that are

(Updated from June 2018 Blog)

This Father’s Day I’m choosing to remember, learn, and even benefit from the relationship between my dad and I…the good, the bad, and even the ugly.

I have wonderful memories and lessons learned from Harold Henry Becker, now sainted for eight years. Dad was the most honest man I’ve ever met, faithful and supportive of my mother for over 59 years, a hard worker, intensely loyal to friends, generous with his time and money, possessed a simple and deep faith in God, and he was present at

This week’s blog has excerpts from a September 29 New York Times article “The Crisis of Men and Boys” by David Brooks. The article captures many of the serious negative implications of fatherless that Tender Lions: Building the Vital Relationship Between Father and Son reveals, and we’ve been writing and speaking about for the last three years.  

The basic premise of the article is that boys and men are struggling in America, and it’s not getting better. Here is some of the data:

Girls outperform boys academically in virtually every subject and at

Recently I watched a riveting interview with Dr. Deborah Birx, former leader of the White House Coronavirus Response Taskforce. Her way of dealing with a very challenging situation illustrated a number of vital leadership qualities, particularly needed in our fragile and fractured country today. To see the interview just click here. By the way, the lessons listed below are my observations not hers.

Calm Under Pressure – When you’re in the public eye and how you appear is just as important as what you do, stay calm. Keep emotions, anger, disbelief,

Most people associate the word “apocalypse” with a disaster or horrible event nearing the end of times. Actually, the word means “to uncover” or “an unveiling.” My hope is that this blog will provide some “unveiling” for you.

If you’re a new reader this blog is about raising a boy to be a “Tender Lion,” and how to do that in a very challenging world. This last week brought with it some terribly challenging events, and I’m predicting that the coming weeks will bring more equally as challenging.

How do I help

I was interviewed recently by Jay Frost, one of the leading development experts in the United States. Jay hosts an educational series for nonprofits called “Unbound” provided by DonorSearch.net.

I was invited to do a webinar for nonprofit leaders recently and then Jay extended the offer to interview me on their Masterminds Series about my thoughts on leadership in general and the pandemic. Go here for the interview. Just click and you can listen on your phone or computer.

“DonorSearch provides accurate and actionable information that identifies your best prospective major gift