Dorrier Underwood

What is left of us when we leave the room, leave the call, leave the house, leave the party, and, of course, leave ultimately?  Perhaps our conversations--what we talked about and what we listened to. Plain and simple. What were we building on those empty lots of time? The weather was too hot and the traffic too much and parking places too hard to find. Were those worth the real estate they occupied? We have this moment, this precious moment, so tell me what you love about your life, what you love about your work, and what matters to you. Tell me about Billy Collins or Bruce Springsteen or Maya Angelou, who said, People don’t remember what you said; they remember who they were in your presence . Do people get bigger and brighter or smaller and duller around you? Make a list: Whom do you talk to and what you talk about? That’s the baseline. Make a second list: What could you talk about with them that you aren’t now? And what could you a...

When my friend Carla and I visited a friend in New Jersey for the first time, we walked into her apartment and immediately began emptying ashtrays, collecting trash and cleaning the cat box, even while chatting amiably. We were so taken over by the sensory assault that we never paused to consider how our efforts might occur to our hostess. We’ve all been there. Something triggers us, and we dive into action without even thinking about the impact. Trouble is, that kind of knee-jerk action can kick off a whole host of relationship issues: hurt feelings, confusion, disconnection, defensiveness, blame, smoldering resentment, gossip, and on it goes. And in the workplace, when there are big goals to accomplish through people and collaboration, those are road blocks we can’t afford to let block our way. There are myriad ways to work on not letting our first impulse be the one that gets to come out and play. One of those is what we call “being in another’s world.” What does ...

Allison Perkins, Executive Director of Reynolda House Museum of American Art Dorrier Underwood clients represent a wide range of industries: education, manufacturing, the arts, and more. But one non-negotiable they have in common is the drive to create an extraordinary future .  It's a vision bigger than anything they've ever thought of before and is one around which the leaders can rally. It pulls them forward, causing them to take unprecedented action and, perhaps most importantly, create outcomes together beyond what they ever could have dreamed of individually. Curious about what those results look like in real life, for a real organization?  Take a moment to read  this recent Winston Salem Journal article on Allison Perkins, Executive Director of Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC: http://bit.ly/2bUoiIx   We're proud to be partners with Allison and her team on their strategic journey toward the future. Congratula...

The rain lashed the dock, wave after wave of it, while I remained safely moored in a covered slip. It is during these enforced moments of solitude that I enjoy tinkering with my boat, reading and dozing.     And that’s when I heard a couple--a man and a woman--two slips down from me.  He was directing her in no uncertain terms on how he wanted things done on the boat. And to hear him tell it, she was not listening very well.  The force of the rain in their exposed slip added pressure on this couple to cover up their boat quickly.   Even so, I thought the man’s language was insulting.  In the world of fair - weather boaters, unfortunately, men all too often show up as domineering know-it-alls.  And all too often the object of their unpleasantness is  women .    As I listened I thought,  “This is a great example of a ‘background of r elatedness’ disconnect!  He’s shouting and calling names and making demands, and she’s not resp...