A little known act during World War II highlights the value of vision for our teams, and why we should treat it like a precious metal.

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A neighbor unexpectedly appeared at my door and wanted to come in. Was I ready? What if someone wanted to visit the teams we lead? What leadership messes would we want to get cleaned up?

The post Cleaning House: 5 Leadership Messes to Clean Up Before You Let the Neighbors In appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

Lighthouse leadership is about knowing what direction to steer your team when the storm hits. Here's a captivating short story about heroism in a storm, and four ways to help you lead in the dark.

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We are in an age of virtual ceremonies like the one for my daughter's graduation. Do they carry the same meaning? What are the implications for leaders?

The post Virtual Ceremonies: Should They Count? appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

How do we know when to change the plan? A casual remark by a friend last week got me thinking about the idea of flexibility and change.  As leaders, we choose the objectives and set the course.  But once we’re underway, how do we know if we should keep on keeping on, or if we […]

The post The Eraser Test: How to Know When It’s Time for a Change appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

Are there any leadership exercises I can do? Someone asked this question recently, and I thought it was a good one.  Learning leadership is tricky business.  It’s not like practicing musical scales or pumping iron at the gym. But I do think there are exercises we can do to become more effective leaders.  Whether we […]

The post Leadership Exercises: 7 Ways to Build Your Influencing Muscles appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

Not long ago, my son called me from Oregon.  He was driving some friends to the airport when his car suddenly quit and wouldn’t restart.  Beyond attempting to diagnose the problem over the phone, there was little I could do to help from where I was in Minnesota. The good news was that we were […]

The post The Leader’s Triple-A Club: How to Navigate the Hazardous Highways of Leadership appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

What should a leader do when they make a mistake? Nobody likes to “step in it,” but leadership mistakes will happen.  What you do when they occur makes all the difference. Do these three things well, and you may end up with a stronger team than you started with. Stepping In It First, a word […]

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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 […]

The post Leadership Incubator appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

“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 […]

The post Leading Spaghetti – How to Use Your Noodle to Lead Your Team appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.