The antidote to the excuse mentality is accountability where people take ownership, fix problems and bring solutions. Mentally and emotionally, accountability is where every leader wants their people to be. But accountability is not an either/or kind of phenomenon. Denial, blame, excuses and anxiety are all stages leading up to accountability that are part of the excuse mentality.
Here's a dirty little secret that falls under the heading of communication skills: Flattery actually does work. It is effective. Saying nice things to people is a really good way to build relationships (it's not the only way, but it is a helpful tool). Great sales people know this. 
The majority of organizations like to consider themselves at least somewhat collaborative (most CEOs don’t raise their hands when you ask them if they want to create a cutthroat or dictatorial organization). Because of this, when we ask leaders how they like to make decisions, a large portion say they like to reach consensus.
A few days ago, American Airlines announced that it was going to raise the pay of pilots and flight attendants to keep pace with competitors Delta and United. Currently, American’s pilots are paid about 8% less than Delta and United while flight attendants are paid about 4% less. In the words of American’s CEO, this is about “doing the right thing.”
Have you ever been talking to someone who’s going through a plan in such painstaking detail that your brain started to hurt? Giving you every nitty-gritty little step when all you really wanted was for them to cut-to-the-chase and give you the bottom line? 
One question I get a lot is how many interview questions to ask when you're interviewing candidates. Five to six is about the right number, assuming your interview is about an hour long. 60 minutes is the median time that most interviews go right now. If you can do longer than that, great, that's super, but most people do about an hour-long interview.
Go to any relevant review site, type in Caesars Palace, and you’ll bring up a stream of reviews like these:
“The staff in all parts of the casino were attentive and over the top helpful. I will be returning to Caesars again and again!”
“From the moment you arrive and the valet and bellman greet you the excellent service welcomes you and you know you are on vacation and will have a wonderful experience.”
Mistakes. We all make them, but some of us respond more constructively than others when they happen. You don’t want to wait until someone is on your payroll to find out what they’ll do when they blunder. 
Let's say you just got promoted to manager and one of your former co-workers, former colleagues, is pretty ticked off because you got the promotion and they didn't. How do you deal with this? It takes developing some interpersonal skills.
Getting criticized stinks. I'm not going to sugarcoat that. But there is a technique you can use to receive constructive criticism that makes it a little more bearable, and even constructive.
