Steve Wood, Author at Steve On Leadership

About Steve Wood

Steve Wood is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Work Opportunities Unlimited Inc. In addition, Steve provides strategic planning and organizational development consulting services to clients. Prior to joining the company, Steve spent 17 years in the banking industry where he was promoted to Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Loan Officer. He consulted with entrepreneurs and managers in the areas of strategic planning and organizational development at a range of businesses throughout New England. Steve was a member of the adjunct faculty team at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) from 1994 to 2014. He taught Leadership and Managing Organizational Change regularly at both the graduate and undergraduate level and periodically taught Strategic Management, Finance, Entrepreneurship, and other management courses. He also served on the University’s Strategic Planning Steering Committee.

Why Did You Buy That Toilet Paper?

Photo by Elly Johnson on Unsplash It wasn’t until last week when I started writing this article that I really understood why I bought extra toilet paper two years ago. More on that in a minute. Do you think you are an “effective” leader? If you do, then you know how to influence people. After all that’s what Stephen Covey teaches us in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Dale Carnegie, too. When anyone says “yes” to a purchase or job assignment or volunteer opportunity or vote decision, they likely have been “influenced” in one of seven [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-05-05T21:21:27-04:00May 5th, 2022|Books, Just Plain Interesting|

Don’t Use a Hammer to Swat a Fly on His Head

Will the judge drop the hammer? I suspect you missed this crime that happened a few years ago in a small New Hampshire town. There on a bright and sunny day two young thieves stole a canoe from inside a Walmart. Though hardly as valuable as an Ocean’s Eleven heist, it was just as clever. The mastermind of this felony was a 15-year-old boy I’ll call Jake. He and his friend wanted to go out on the river fishing, but they had no canoe. He and his friend noticed a brand-new canoe on display in Walmart and it was perfect. [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-04-14T09:41:19-04:00April 14th, 2022|Leadership, Leadership Lessons|

An Entrepreneur’s Dream Turns 40

Many people dream of becoming an entrepreneur and never succeed. Why? Because successful entrepreneurs are very rare, and they are just “wired” differently. This week on April Fool’s Day in 1982, Joe Leddy, a New Hampshire native, left a comfortable, salaried position in government and created Work Opportunities Unlimited. Forty years later his creation has helped over 70,000 people find successful employment and this number grows daily. In this article I will use Joe’s launch of Work Opportunities Unlimited to explore five common ways entrepreneurs are just “wired” differently. To give you context I will often share Joe’s direct quotes [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-04-07T09:41:31-04:00March 30th, 2022|Business, Entrepreneurship / Innovation|

Planes, Chutes, and Seinfeld

Photo by Thomas Park Most of us are looking for anything to feel good about these days. One thing I do to feel good is to look for and appreciate high quality. Here are three "quality" observations this week involving planes, parachutes, and Jerry Seinfeld that all make me smile. A Tip of My Hat to American Airlines. On Saturday my wife, Patti, returned home from New Orleans where she had gone with a few high school friends. Even though the weather on this end was a little rough, all went well on her non-stop return flight to [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-03-16T13:30:32-04:00March 16th, 2022|Books, Just Plain Interesting, Team Leadership / Teamwork, Teams & Culture|

Getting to Yes with Lower Friction

I’m slow to notice things sometimes. Like how frequently almost all media companies now move right to the next show in a series without a break. I noticed it when I was watching a rerun of the Big Bang Theory on cable and then again when we were watching Longmire on Netflix. When I stopped and thought about why they do this, of course, it makes sense. If I’m on a cable channel, it likely holds me on that channel and I might see more commercials. If I’m on Netflix, it creates more binge watching and hooks me to Netflix. [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-03-03T17:58:35-05:00March 3rd, 2022|Change Leadership, Leadership|

What is a Vaccine Whisperer

Today at a meeting someone asked me what my favorite music is, and I said, “folk music.” My love of folk music began when I was a counselor at a Virginia Boy Scout camp in 1969. One of the few vinyl albums available to listen to in the Admin/Dining Hall was Simon & Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence. And the lyrics from the title song that really caught me were: “And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening” In that summer 52 years ago, I thought those lyrics were [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-02-16T20:05:50-05:00February 16th, 2022|Change Leadership, Leadership|

Watch The Stories in Your Head

Has this ever happened to you? I was at the gym yesterday on the Stairmaster when I saw a woman I thought I recognized named Linda. Within a nanosecond, though, I realized it could not be her because she passed away this past Fall. But then my brain shifted instantly into remembering Linda’s wonderful life story – but it was only my memory, my narrative of her life, not the total narrative. I’ll bet this happens to you, too – you see someone you think you recognize and it isn’t them, but then “pop”, you think about the person and [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-02-03T20:01:51-05:00February 3rd, 2022|Credibility & Inspiration, Team Leadership / Teamwork|

What Resolution? I Forgot Already

My wife Patti and I enjoy the Voice and especially the enthusiasm of one judge, Kelly Clarkson. I recently read Clarkson shared this amusing New Year’s resolution, “To the person that lost weight over the holidays… Don’t worry, I found it and will get it back to you starting January 1st," Clarkson joked. New Year’s Day is what Katy Milkman calls a “landmark date”. Landmark dates help we humans move away from the past and experience the Fresh Start Effect. Yesterday on January 17th when I went to Planet Fitness I saw fewer people – just like last year. Why [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-01-18T18:50:54-05:00January 18th, 2022|Change Leadership, Leadership, Uncategorized|

Do You Know What You Don’t Know

Yesterday I went sailing on another rather dreary day here in New Hampshire. But the day brightened when I approached a dock on the far side of the lake and an excited little boy ran down on his dock and waved. He yelled, “Nice boat, where did you come from?” “Far away,” I said, smiling. His mom smiled, too, as she walked-up and spoke to him. When I turned the boat I could see his face – it was full of wonder about knowing what he didn’t know. The Unknowable. I was stopped dead in my mind’s tracks last [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-07-13T16:18:38-04:00July 13th, 2021|Change Leadership, Leadership|

Do You Take Responsibility?

It seems like today no one wants to take responsibility for anything. I think it is because people are afraid to be wrong. We have all heard the expression “put your John Hancock on it.” Most of us know this comes from the very distinctive, first signature we see on the actual Declaration of Independence. This week we will be celebrating Independence Day, that fourth day of July in 1776 when John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration with a very large, distinctive signature. The actual original document only had his signature and that of Charles Thomson. [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-06-29T13:59:07-04:00June 29th, 2021|Credibility & Inspiration, Leadership|

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