There’s very little new to be said about what leadership IS. There is however a great deal to be said about how leadership takes place—particularly in an era characterized by what the academics call VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, conflict and ambiguity.
The hardest work of leading you’ll ever do is not the coaching, problem-solving, communicating and other externally focused activities that occupy your days. Rather, the heavy lifting of creating success as a leader goes on in the space between your ears. Here are 5 key internal issues every leader must regularly renew:
Fresh from a round of recent engagements, here are some very real reminders of how personal change is and how poorly we as leaders perform in guiding our people through the fog. I include 7 ideas to help you immediately raise your game on guiding change.
A few months before his untimely passing, I had a chance to sit down and talk with an individual who helped mold my own leadership aspirations and behaviors over my career. The wisdom he imparted in our all-too-short conversation would fill books on the topic of learning to lead. Enjoy!
The book, "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win," is one of the latest additions to the growing number of books from the ranks of the warrior heroes known as Navy SEALs. This one is a keeper, with powerful lessons drawn from life or death experiences. While our workplace challenges are mild by comparison, the leadership lessons are a perfect fit for anyone accountable for the results of others.
My management and leadership writing recap (and just a little bit of world commentary) for last week. Have a great weekend!
A brief look at the week just past and a recap of my leadership and management writings from around the web.
It’s impossible to lead effectively if you don’t have an open line of communication with your team members. Here are six ideas to help your team members open up to you:
We tend to reserve our thinking, writing and talking about leadership for the hierarchical relationships. However, peer groups represent great, untapped sources of problem-solving and improvement. There's ample opportunity for you to assert as a leader of this group, if you take the right approach. Here are 7 steps to asserting as a leader of your peers without being perceived as a jerk...
From about the six-month mark out of college and for all but eighteen months of the next twenty-two years, I supervised, managed and cultivated my leadership skills in a variety of different technology and software firms. While I loved and still do love the challenge and responsibility for guiding and developing others, the work (including the actual running of the business) was and is demanding and draining. I learned over time that I could only be at my best for others if I took care of my own refueling needs first. Here are 9 ideas to help re-energize your leadership spirit:
