Respect. Straight talk. Results.

David Porter Advisors

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Performance Excellence

The Four-Word Question

The quality of questions we ask determines the effectiveness of our leadership and lives. As leaders, we are paid to deliver results for our people, companies, customers, owners, and communities. Along the way, we ask any number of questions, often ones that don’t serve us because we frame them

Leading from Crisis or Reserve

Photo credit: David Porter During a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the raw beauty of the place struck me, but the most profound impression was the amount of reserve built into the area. The reserve stood out in the roadways, the Albuquerque airport, and everywhere we traveled in the

A Permission Slip

A former colleague just started a new job. I remember him for many things, but I thought about him today because he is one of those all too rare people that speaks his mind about things large and small in the world. That makes him an intriguing person because he

Overcoming the Illusion of Communication

Most of us have experienced effective and ineffective communication in our businesses. We marvel, often in frustration, at the efficiency of the grapevine (perhaps now morphed into the Slack-vine). We wish to control our messages, but the informal network adds its meaning and velocity. We send out a message to

Everything's Made Up!

One of many profound lessons I’ve learned during my career is that everything’s made up. This is a powerful and liberating message for employees and leaders trying to improve an organization. Why? Because if something’s made up, then we are free to invent its replacement. Whenever I