Ethical expectations are continuing to increase as we know more about the impact of our choices on others and the planet. As leaders, we have to stay sharp, not just in terms of best leadership practices, but also in terms of our ethical competence. Guest author, Linda Fisher Thornton shares her thoughts on the mind of an ethical leader and offers guidance for all of us on the 5 levels of ethical competence:
Much like the repeating sounds that bring substance and meaning to great works of music, there’s a recurring set of notes and chords that emanate from all effective leaders. These include...
Overcoming the gravitational pull of the office requires extraordinary effort. Succumb to this powerful tractor beam and your life is an endless stream of internal meetings and activities that lack any context for the realities of customers and the marketplace. Spend too much time inside your own walls, and you create your own alternate reality...one that lacks proper connectivity to the issues that should define your team’s priorities. Here are 5 ideas to help you and your team members change the view and cultivate critical marketplace context:
In contrast to last week’s Effective Top Leadership feature where I focused on an example inside a multi-national firm, this one is squarely in the small business category, topping out at about $20 million in annual revenues. While it was not a large firm, this organization and its founder left an indelible impression on customers, employees, suppliers and the southeastern U.S. communities that the firm served.
If you’ve spent time in a leadership role, you know that it is remarkably difficult to get good quality feedback on how you are doing and for that matter, how everyone else is doing under your leadership. If you haven’t wondered about this, you are either naïve or you are caught up in all of the nice things that people say in your presence. Newsflash: almost no one tells the boss he stinks, when he’s in the room. Some of the worst leaders that I’ve had the displeasure to cross paths with, plied their evil practices with glee, protected by the cheering throngs around them.
I regularly poll my seminar participants and MBA students on their team-focused experiences in the workplace and I am consistently surprised when very few report ever being part of something that they would classify as a “high performance” team. The results of my unscientific polling are all the more surprising given that we live during a time when involvement in short-term projects with individuals across functions is a part of the regular work experience of most professionals.
While I don’t know too many business leaders that look forward to a recession, I know a few strong leaders that do a remarkable job of working through them from a “glass is half-full” perspective. It’s not yet clear whether we are in or heading for a recession, but the topic is on the collective mind of people in the U.S. and around the world. If we are heading for recession, the right attitude and the right actions on your part will help your firm weather the storm and even prosper during or shortly after any period of business contraction.
