Book Notes – Wooden on Leadership: Think Small
Why should leaders sweat the small stuff? Someone said that you shouldn’t “sweat the small stuff” but based on what I just read, they have it all wrong. Sometimes it’s the small things that can make all the difference. If you want to be effective as a leader, there’s good reason why you should pay […]
Independence Day: 7 Ways to Defuse Conflict and Assert Your Freedom
Do our reflexive reactions cause unnecessary fireworks? Conflict is inevitable in any human enterprise; how we handle that conflict is where leadership comes in. Too often we seem bound to react instinctively: voices rise, pressure grows, and soon it’s fireworks like the 4th of July. But to lead effectively requires us to cast off the […]
Book Notes – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
What do you do when your team is falling apart? We all know that in most cases you can accomplish more as a team than as an individual. But what happens when the “teamwork” part erodes away and all you have left is a group of individuals masquerading as a team? How do you diagnose […]
Wading the Mississippi: Six Surprising Secrets of Success I Learned from Ol’ Man River
What does it take to achieve great things? Recently, I waded across the Mississippi River. Really. And as I thought about that accomplishment, it seemed this great river had a lot to say about what it takes to achieve something great. Here are six secrets of success the mighty Mississippi taught me that day, and […]
Leadership Incubator
I think one thing often overlooked in the world of leadership is patience. We’re always in a hurry to get things done. We have to produce results immediately. Yesterday, if at all possible. To make that happen, some leaders reduce themselves to the idea of “the louder and harsher the better.” Kind of in the […]
Stop Yourself! 4 Ways to Grow Your Team by Shutting Your Mouth
As leaders we are responsible for getting things done through people. But in our rush to see results, we risk becoming our own worst enemy. If we are not careful, our well-meaning actions can breed frustration, cause discontent, and undermine trust. Today we’ll talk about leader patience and when to apply it in a way […]
Leading Spaghetti – How to Use Your Noodle to Lead Your Team
“If you’re a leader, you don’t push wet spaghetti, you pull it.” – Bill Mauldin Bill Mauldin was a famous cartoonist for Stars and Stripes, the newspaper widely read by American GIs during World War II. It’s easy to get his metaphor about leading spaghetti, and it makes sense, sort of. But since Bill was […]
Leader Isolation: 6 Ways to Conquer Loneliness at the Top
We are not alone… …but sometimes it can feel that way. Leadership can bring with it a sense of isolation. You seem to be the only one bearing the burden of responsibility, setting the standard, and trying to balance the demands of your boss with the realities on the ground. Today we’ll talk about how […]
Winning at Chaos: How to Succeed When it All Falls Apart
“How can you prepare to succeed in the midst of chaos?” Much has been written about the big strategic decisions before the massive D-Day invasion of World War II. What sometimes gets missed are the thousands of little, tactical decisions made on the ground afterwards. Yet those were what ultimately enabled success. Allied planners knew […]
How to be Successful: The 9,051-Step Plan
Can you imagine climbing a staircase that is one mile high? Seems like a lot, right? It would be the same as climbing the Empire State Building more than four times, the Washington Monument nine times, or Niagara Falls 31 times. But an amazing feat like climbing a mile-high staircase may not be as challenging […]
New Leader Checklist: 4 Questions to Ask if You Want to Lead Effectively
Whether it’s your first leadership position or your fifty-first, taking over can be a challenging business. One key to success? Don’t start out by answering questions; start by asking them. Today we’ll talk about four new leader questions you should ask, and how to get the answers so that you can lead confidently and effectively.
Why You Should Value the Nonconformist
I’m not paying you to agree with me. I’m paying you to think. That’s Colin Powell’s approach to leadership. When it’s time for planning and problem-solving, the best leaders aren’t looking for unity and agreement. They want the opposite. They want dialogue, a clash of ideas. It’s not the time to get comfortable. It’s the […]
