Will Courage Make You a Great Leader?
If you lack courage, does it mean you will never be a great leader? In the US, it appears that common sense says courage is a profound part of being a great leader. As a result, aspiring leaders go about their day to demonstrate their courage to the world. However, when you look at many […]
Should Leaders Send Themselves to the Timeout Room?
The notion of time out is generally seen as punishment for children who misbehave. In the context of this article, it has a much more profound meaning. In sports, teams call time out when they are running out of time, overwhelmed or need to thoroughly think through the next play. In life, regardless of how […]
How Do Leaders Handle Breakdowns?
In your personal or professional life, breakdowns occur. When I say breakdowns, it includes problems, disruptions, challenges, chaos, misfortune, disaster, etc. When it comes to business, in many cases, the larger the goal the larger the breakdown. If you’re a leader, the way you handle those problems can dictate the culture of your enterprise. And […]
What Happens When Leadership Does Not Create a Corporate Culture?
I have worked as an executive and advisor to CEOs in variousindustries. In either capacity, I have noticed a pattern. One pattern is that high performing companies have a culture of high accountability. Low performing organizations tend to have toxic cultures and confusion. Nevertheless, effective leaders can always transform corporate culture from toxic to high […]
What Is Leadership?
Perhaps the shortest and easiest answer to “what is leadership?” is: there is no leadership. At least there is no such thing as the archetypal leader who, as the dictionary says, “is the action of leading a group of people or an organization”. Or it is said to be “a state or position of being […]
What Does Your Intimate Life Have to Do with Your Professional Life?
On the surface, it would seem your professional and intimate lives are worlds apart. However, when you peel back the layers, you find patterns that are mirrored in both. For example, whatever upsets you in your personal life will upset you in the workplace, even if you are taught to suppress it at work. Eventually […]
Here’s Why Leadership Books Will Never Make You a Great Leader
If you want to read about leadership, go into any bookstore. Or search the Internet. You’ll find millions of entries online and thousands of copies in bookstores. And every book has the answer. They tell you to be a situational leader, primal leader, emotionally intelligent leader, servant leader and the list goes on. Yet, many, […]
Here’s Why Your Words Have No Power
When you learn your first language, it is to ensure you are able to communicate with others. Before you learn a language, you cry to be fed or to have your diaper changed. Language allows you to speak instead of cry. Once language is acquired, most people use it to communicate what they want or […]
Are Leaders Really Needed in Organizations?
Leadership. Is it really essential to have leaders in an organization? For the past few decades, there have been companies that have eliminated titles. There are no CEOs, presidents or managers. In some cases, there are no individual owners. The employees own the company. In today’s business model, some call it a Holacracy. Holacracy, also […]
Great Leaders Don’t Tell You What to Do
In many cases, people become managers because they solve problems better than others. And problems solvers can be rather proud about telling others about how to implement solutions they have discovered. While being a problem solver may be a normal path to management, it is a trap. For those managers who move to senior management, […]