Fear paralyzes; sometimes we allow it to, calling it “caution”. It’s good to be cautious. Not so good to be paralyzed. Either by over-analysis OR by fear. (Though, extreme analysis can combat fear; see Freakonomics for the statistics on child … Read More
Few things are more energizing than leaving a productive meeting with your team, set ablaze with fresh ideas that will set the wheels in motion. You’re ready to go. Your team is ready to go. You’ve established MT goals and … Read More
Last week’s blog talked about the value of vision as a leader. With vision, you have a clear destination; a clear destination can aid in motivating your team. But with vision, comes goals. Goals serve as checkpoints on the way … Read More
“Employees want to constantly be better at what they do. If not challenged, they will look for challenges elsewhere.” –Ilya Pozin As a leader, you have a job to do: lead people (sounds simple enough, right?). Where you lead them … Read More
Clumsy attempts at self improvement are better than smooth successes at nailing the status quo. A good, and immediate, example is feedback.
An email I received yesterday: I would be interested in your thoughts about too much communication. It has been happening that with all the communication outlets, Facebook, Twitter, text, email, that keeping track of getting the word out is … Read More
Let’s make the assumption that, as a leader, you’ve taken a number of human behavior assessments (like the Leadership Practices Inventory, Everything DiSC®, Strengths Finders or Myers-Briggs), and therefore you have some sort of description (or two or five descriptions) … Read More
About a third of my work in leadership training is with youth organizations, with an emphasis on true empowerment of youth leaders to contribute to the organization’s work. It takes effort, so I was recently asked “Is it worth all … Read More
Last fall, I spent two blog posts discussing how effective leaders stay organized. At that time, I was referring to your actual to-do list, which typically won’t have the actual words “pay attention to John on Monday.” But maybe you … Read More
When I was in 6th grade, my music teacher, Mr. Jones, played us some “Switched-On Bach” – Bach performed on synthesizer. That was pretty cool back in 1980. If you’re over 40, I bet you know what I’m talking about. … Read More