Recently, I made a Facebook post that praised someone I think highly of, a journalist named John. I said: Something I appreciated watching you work today was the way you were relentless in the pursuit of great shots, but always … Read More
There is a sweet spot when it comes to personal development. It’s this: “I know I don’t know it all, but I’m open to learning more.” The most successful leaders embrace this. Yet, we’ve all seen the leader who says, … Read More
My favorite definition of leadership comes from Kouzes and Posner: “Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.” That’s a great, dense package that generates discussion about the complexity of leadership. However, sometimes we … Read More
No matter how far you’ve come, a leader always asks: “What’s the next step?” True to my DiSC® style of a strongly inclined iD — I’m impatient. It’s been a lifelong tendency of mine to interrupt, or at least formulate … Read More
I was visiting my best friend Matt, and his young sons Alex and Owen were outside playing. Owen came in and shut the glass door, leaving Alex accidentally locked outside. When Alex looked through the glass, amused but pleading, I … Read More
If there’s one skill that leaders must master and habitually improve, it’s communication. I say “habitually improve”, because it’s impossible to communicate flawlessly ALL the time. But – we can sure try! Take a look at this story about a … Read More
In their research on Characteristics of Admired Leaders, Kouzes and Posner found this: Far and away, the most desired characteristics of leaders are (in this order): HonestForward-lookingInspiringCompetent It’s fascinating that both “inspiring” AND “competent” are on the list together, as … Read More
Remember that two-word definition of leadership – “Meet Needs” ? You can really put that into action by staying conscious of things that you can deliver to the people who report to you. Your team is so used to deliverables … Read More
One word – “inappropriate” Last week, at the Iowa Employment Conference I heard employment law expert, Michael Reck, point out that the word “inappropriate” has no place in employee handbooks. He went on to say this is because courts have … Read More
A while back, I wrote a post describing the idea T=r+d: Trust equals reliability (meeting expectations) plus delight (exceeding expectations). How about a story describing precisely the opposite? I actually wrote this post about a restaurant experience my family and … Read More