October 2025 – Page 2 – leadership dots

leadership dot #4767: bark back

October 21, 2025October 18, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I have a 6-month-old puppy that looooves my 8-year-old dog. The pup harasses the older dog to no end — and my sweet dog just stands there and takes it. No barking back. No trying to get away. No growling when the puppy steals her bone. No return biting when the pup grabs at her leg or tail.

On one hand, I’m glad for the tolerance, but many times I’ve wished for her to at least bare some teeth and give a signal that such behavior is not okay.

Too many times, people act like the older dog and allow others to walk all over them. There is only physical abuse on a few occasions, but people allow others to verbally disrespect them without giving any pushback. It may seem admirable to absorb attacks in silence, but that complicity doesn’t serve any purpose in the long run.

If someone is trying to dominate you, stand up for yourself and bark back.

leadership dot #4766: floss

October 20, 2025October 17, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Our community health center has just expanded to include a dental wing. Instead of the traditional ribbon cutting to open this area, they held a “floss-cutting.” Of course! I love this idea.

Like the cherry-crazed Michigan business which labeled its restrooms “Pit Stops” (dot #4722), the aptly-named Chiroport in the MSP airport, manta rays in Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium, or the iconic branded chairs at the University of Wisconsin Union, I applaud those organizations that create little tweaks to make something their own.

If your [ribbon-cutting, restroom, newsletter, lobby, brochure, strategic plan] is generic enough to be anyone else’s, take the time to rethink it. Work to celebrate you in ways that reflect your organization’s personality.

leadership dot #4765: loneliness

October 19, 2025October 18, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I’ve had conversations lately about the difficulty in making new friends as an older, childless person. So many people my age are still raising children or doting on grandchildren that it is hard to find single people in my life stage for social connections. It’s often lonely.

I thought of this when I was at our town’s No Kings rally yesterday. I’m not sure that the protest will make any difference in policy or practice, but what it did do was bring many like-minded people together. It was nice to have that connection, however fleeting. I talked with more people at the rally than I have in months.

One of the signs said, “Things are so bad that even the introverts are here.” Why does it take a protest for that connection to happen? Be intentional about crafting ways to bring people together for social reasons beyond rallies. You and your community will be better because of it.

leadership dot #4764: look beyond

October 18, 2025October 17, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

After the top 10 ideas were revealed for the city’s next envision process (dot #4763), it elicited a variety of immediate reactions.

You could hear the cheers from several groups in attendance who were happy that their pet project made the list. Less overt were a few in the background grumbling because their area was not specifically mentioned.

It was disheartening for me to witness the singular focus in either direction. The volunteer group had the difficult task of culling 3000 ideas into a manageable list of 10. Of course, not everything was going to be included, but they presumably focused on the big picture to make their decisions. It wasn’t meant to be a representative list, but rather a doable and impactful one.

In this process, as well as in politics and too many other venues, people get fixated on one issue and overlook the rest. They vote because a candidate is for/against one particular thing. They forego relationships because of one area of disagreement. They dislike companies because of their stance on one policy.

Try to look beyond “one” of anything and evaluate the whole before forming an opinion. The whole is comprised of many pieces.

leadership dot #4763: commissions

October 17, 2025October 16, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Our Community Foundation spearheaded a process to envision the top 10 ideas to enhance the region in the coming years. Instead of just publishing the final selections, they commissioned 10 local artists to each depict an idea, then auctioned the art for the project’s seed money. The reveal event was held in the art museum’s space, providing a great way to garner additional community support and raise funds for the work.

Think about creative (literal and figurative) ways that you can weave partnerships into the initial stages of your next project. No matter how fancy your print pieces are, they won’t have the same impact as an original piece that conveys the same message.

Access to the Mississippi River by Laura Kavitter

leadership dot #4762: settlement

October 16, 2025October 15, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I was part of a class action settlement involving the Park Mobile app. My portion of the payout: 25 cents.

Most of the work to provide my settlement was undoubtedly done electronically — import the users, pro-rate their expenditures vs. total fine, email me with the results, payout through a credit on the app and not cash — but multiply that by thousands of users and it still had cost and effort involved.

Whether it be from a refund, settlement, rebate, or return, it seems to be a waste of resources to process out these small amounts. Would anyone be upset if there was a policy that small amounts were paid to one charity or foundation instead of to the individual? It means nothing to me, yet 25 cents multiplied by thousands could have an impact.

Maybe there can’t be a universal standard or one beneficiary that would appease most, but if you deal in such transactions, perhaps you can create a practice that works for your organization. Any unclaimed found items are donated after X days. Any refunds under $X amount are not paid out. Any amounts due under $X are forgiven. Let’s put our energy into the big stuff instead.

leadership dot #4761: multi-step

October 15, 2025October 14, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A friend asked me if it was hard to come up with ideas for a daily dot. Absolutely not. I have a whole notebook full of “ideas.” The hard part is crafting a lesson to go with those ideas in order to turn them into a dot.

Here’s an analogy: you may have a bunch of clothes in your closet, but you may struggle with what to wear. Clothes are equivalent to ideas; an outfit is akin to a dot. The same is true of food in your pantry; a full cupboard is different than a menu or meal. A thousand shows on streaming do not always equate to knowing the evening’s entertainment.

Ideas are the easy part. Innovation is a multi-step process that goes beyond just having that initial thought; you need to create context or meaning. Nolan Bushnell said, “Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference.” Take your ideas to the next step today.

leadership dot #4760: tools

October 14, 2025October 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In the Olympics, there is a speaker in each lane of the track, allowing runners to simultaneously hear the starting pistol. You wouldn’t think that it would make a difference, but it takes sound .008 seconds to travel from lane 4 to lane 7. The runner in lane 7 (Noah Lyles) won by .005 seconds over the second-place finisher who started in lane 4. Without the addition of speakers to make the race equitable, Lyles would have lost.

We often think that we have provided our volunteers or employees with the tools they need to do their jobs, but I wonder if we consider what they really need to be successful. Are there equivalents to block speakers that would make a difference in their output? Have we given each member what they need to achieve their best?

Ask your people what tools would help them become more successful, and create ways for others to share what works for them. The difference in the Olympics is minuscule, but in the office, variances can be great.

leadership dot #4759: new role

October 13, 2025October 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Bill Belichick holds the record for most Super Bowl wins (six) as a head coach, plus two more as defensive coordinator. He’s a football legend.

After a 4-13 record with the Patriots in the 2023 season, Belichick stepped down. In 2025, he became the coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. How exciting that must have been for the school — a coup to hire what some consider to be the greatest football coach of all time. Imagine being a player and learning that!

But the Belichick era has not gotten off to a good start. The Tar Heels are 2-3 and 0-1 in the conference. They lost their opener 14-48, marking the most points he has ever given up during his career, and UNC’s worst opening loss in the program’s history. The season is young, but the tough ACC Conference schedule lies ahead.

The Belichick story played out in countless organizations across the land: just because you are good at one thing, it does not automatically make you good in another aspect of that job. NFL coaches aren’t naturally great at strategy and motivation for college boys. Individual contributors aren’t necessarily strong as supervisors. Artisans don’t always make successful business owners.

Approach each new role as a beginner, not as an expert, no matter what experience you bring to it.

leadership dot #4758: creative

October 12, 2025October 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The decorations at an art reception were unique, beautiful, environmentally friendly — and extremely low-cost. Instead of paying for greenhouse-grown cut flowers or using artificial ones, a creative member placed wildflowers in a zucchini and displayed them on a mirror tile with tiny lights. They were stunning.

The next time you need something, don’t default to going to a store to buy it. Stretch your imagination and see if you can’t repurpose something you already own, upcycle instead, or creatively craft something new. Challenging your brain can have beautiful results.