Don’t go beyond the guardrails, but be real! In a recent session with a CEO and his executive team, we discussed personality preferences as they relate to leadership. One member is particularly stoic, yet the CEO is intense and emotional. This question came up: “Is it OK to show emotions?” I’ve heard this query before […]
CEO Leadership Traits You might ask, “Where’s he going with this one?” Sermons in the lunchroom? Support of capitalism? Neither, but I might soon take a shot at the capitalism piece given some current political rhetoric. I consider myself a data-driven, evidence-based guy. “What evidence do you have of that?” is a common question for […]
Wander With Wonder MBWA. You’ve probably heard of it: management by wandering (or walking) around. Peters and Waterman made the phrase famous in their 1982 book “In Search of Excellence.” At the time, I was a store manager at Kinko’s (no longer around after FedEx bought the company) and went on to be responsible for […]
Choices — You Have More Than You Think! People in victim mode don’t often get into senior leadership roles. Eeyore’s favorite food is thistles, and that makes for a very negative, grumpy life. In my experience, professional victims have decided they have few choices in life. They were late because of traffic, not poor planning. […]
Effective Leaders Know How Is As Important As What The “what” of business is critical. Where you’re going (vision) and the path you’ll take to get there (strategy) to profitably address a market. They’re necessary, but not sufficient. As Peter Drucker said, “Many brilliant people believe that ideas move mountains. But bulldozers move mountains; ideas […]
Don’t have two people responsible for the same thing What? Research on “diffusion of responsibility” found that we’re most likely to take heroic action when we’re alone rather than with others. The hypothesis is that we: (a) don’t want to look foolish and (b) are influenced by what the other person is doing — probably […]
A recent NPR story highlighted DNA testing services (e.g., 23andMe and Ancestry.com) and how many people are surprised when they’re of different makeup than they thought. Some folks are disturbed when their life’s narrative doesn’t match the real story. It turns out that many of us are not as self-aware as we think. (To my […]
A recent message from a contact mentioned a wonderful retreat he’d experienced because the organization’s new leader brought in a “motivational speaker.” What a bunch of crap! You take over an organization and hire a motivational speaker because you have nothing to say?! Business should be fun, but don’t waste the opportunity to engage your […]
Years ago (and pounds ago!) I ran marathons. I was a young father and worked too much, so I ran them with less-than-desirable training miles per week, causing me to fade at the 20-mile mark. I could not finish strong. I was proud of my effort and times but could’ve done much better with more […]