Book Notes: The Right Kind of Crazy
“How do you build a close-knit innovative team under high pressure?” Imagine being put in charge of leading a team to do something that man has never been done before. You have about ten people with widely differing backgrounds and personalities to work with. You have tight budgetary limitations, a rapidly shrinking timeline and high […]
11 Key Rehearsal Techniques to Keep Your Plan From Getting Torpedoed
In 1914, a German U-boat off the coast of England fired a torpedo that sunk the British passenger liner Lusitania. Even though there were plenty of life vests for every passenger and more than enough seats in the available life boats, most passengers did not survive the encounter. One key reason was that they did […]
How to Get Kicked Out of Leadership School: The Spotlight Leader
Do you have what it takes to get through the Army’s toughest leadership school? Those who attend the U.S. Army’s Ranger School prepare months in advance in the attempt to pass this grueling leadership course. Even so, the failure rate is high – anywhere from 40-60% of this select group still don’t make the grade […]
Snake Bit! A Case Study in Making Haste Slowly
In the heat of a crisis, as leaders we tend to want to jump in and start making decisions. The situation calls for boldness, decisiveness; now is our chance to rise to the occasion. To fail to act immediately may be interpreted as weakness. But if we act hastily we risk making bad decisions and making things worse […]
Book Notes: Natural Born Heroes
What kind of person does it take to kidnap a Nazi General? That’s the question that Christopher McDougal asked when he wrote Natural Born Heroes. In an epic but little known story from World War II, Greek resistance fighters on the island of Crete were able to pull off this amazing feat in the capitol […]
A Different View of Leadership: Not What You Might Expect
What does leadership look like? It takes on many forms. But on this day, at a major training exercise in the desert, it took on what for me was a very unexpected shape. Here’s the short story about a very different view of leadership I got when I pulled back the tent flap, and saw […]
Leading With Authority: One Way to Steadily Grow Your Influence
How can I be more influential with my team? My boss? Many of us have asked ourselves that question. Maybe you are the leader but seem to be struggling to get people to listen to you. Or perhaps you are on the team, but people aren’t listening to you when you speak. How do you get […]
Leading With a Blind Eye: Why You Can’t Ignore the Thing You Didn’t Want to See
Why turning a “blind eye” is hazardous to the health of your team In 1801, Admiral Horatio Nelson was leading several warships in a desperate fight against the Danish in the Battle of Copenhagen. His ships were part of a larger fleet commanded by another Admiral. Back in those days, commanders communicated with their fleet […]
How to use the EDGE Technique to Lead Your Team
Did you know that organizations have a life cycle? In this video, we’ll talk about what the stages of that life cycle are, and how you can adjust your leadership approach to successfully lead your team in every stage.
5 Connections You Need for a Powerful Leadership Network
It is not unusual for someone to be promoted into a position of leadership based on their job performance. But often, the skills that got them promoted are not the ones that will help them excel as a leader. You are bridging the gap from doing what you are told, to figuring out what it […]
Keys to Mental Toughness: How to Manage Personal Expectations
What’s the secret to mental toughness? How do you prevent the situation from controlling you? Here’s one story from my early days to help you sort all that out….
Book Notes: Better Than Before
I am a triathlete in remission. After scores of races since 1999, and thousands of hours of training, there are no races on my calendar this year. None last year, either. And yet, three times a week, at 4:45 AM the alarm goes off, I get up, drive to the local YMCA and swim back […]
