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It's easy to get so caught up in your busy-dizzy life that you neglect to compliment others on their efforts and accomplishments. The intriguing thing is what a powerful impact a compliment can have on both the giver and the recipient. It was at 35,000 feet that I came to realize exactly how powerful.

Near the end of the flight, I started speculating that most passengers, myself included, are wrapped up in our thoughts and oblivious to the service provided unless something goes wrong. As a result, flight attendants probably get very few compliments.

My husband and I recently took a cruise. I didn't board the ship in search of blog topics, but I found them nevertheless.

As is customary on cruises, shortly before departure, the crew held a safety drill so we'd know what to do if the ship was going to tipple, topple or sink. To run the drill, they gathered the 3000 passengers into small groups at assigned locations, with a crew member on hand to serve as each group's demo-meister.

Morale in the IT organization had been poor for a long time. After other strategies to address the problem failed, the CIO—whom I'll call Brad—decided to try something new. He invited employees to volunteer to be on a team of non-managers that would evaluate the morale problem from their perspective and submit recommendations for improvement. Brad and his senior management team committed to take their recommendations seriously and act on them.

Lisa Crispin dives into the "we're all in the same boat" theory and explains how it can't be more true in the software development world. From the need for common goals to going beyond taking responsibility for the team's actions, each team must know that you're going to fail or succeed together.