Is boss watching the #1 sport in the office? Not sure. But leaders need to have the self awareness to know people are watching and lead with transparency. Leadership is about building trust and generating truth to such questions as Why is this happening? or What are you thinking about? Boss watching is about followers filling in the blanks.
Safety around water is important because the risk is real, and a drowning victim has a name. This lesson hit me during a recent swimming lesson, and it has application in leadership development. What do new leaders need? A lifeguard of sorts – called leadership development, an on-boarding plan, or a mentor.
Listening is not always THEIR problem. Leaders need to be clear and people need to have time to digest either positive or negative news. Too often there is confusion and surprise. Here are 3 steps for leaders to make sure the news is heard and it makes a difference.
Resilience and leadership is a big topic. It is an important topic. Here is a formula that captures the essence of resilience.
Attitude is contagious. Smiles also become contagious, and people can hear smiles. Here is a thought about how leading with a smile makes a difference.
It is hard to invest in training when the market is way down. But investing in your best people goes way beyond a line item in the budget. Compensation is not a driver for your best people, it is time, opportunity, and the feeling they are part of something special. Here is a talent scorecard that helps a leader step back and understand what they should be doing.
What do I believe? A question that is good to ask on occassion because it makes us think and put a stake in the ground on something. It might change, and even in that there is some learning. Here is what I believe.
Using a giving focus to building a business is one of the cornerstones of the book, The Go-Giver. It is a book that made me think, and it also made me wonder if a millenial would look at the message and wonder “What is the big deal about tha?”. They have it has part of their fabric already.
Some questions are hard to ask. Not because they are difficult to word correctly, but because the potential answers make us nervous. Actually, we are afraid of the answers. Here are 4 questions that leaders fear asking, and 4 habits that help us ask them.
How does recruiting a pastor teach you leadership? What can we learn be connecting with people who have decided to make a career out of not for profit leadership? Here are four things I learned from serving on a team tasked to find two new pastors. An
Coaching is often about helping people make significant changes through simple practices. The slow-flooding smile is one of those practices. Here is a way it might look, and the questions a coach might ask to reflect on the impact.
Is ego in leaders bad? When we think of ego we too often point to examples where ego has been the destruction of people. Barry Bonds. Bill Clinton. Marion Jones. Richard Nixon. The list could get long. We too often forget that ego is the reason many of these people succeeded in the first place. Ego deserves some exploration.