70% of American workers are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” (Gallup, 2013). That figure represents a failure of leadership. Leadership is the ability to impact and engage people in important work that causes positive disruption. That clearly … [Read more...]
Move Your Own D@%# Needle
There’s a phrase that many in business have been using for some time now. Typically it’s a manager in a leadership role telling someone else that they need to “move the needle.” That is, they need to cause some change, they need to increase revenue … [Read more...]
Self-Awareness Drives Corporate Performance
How self-aware are you? Do you know what your blind spots are? What skills do you excel at? What traits make up your personality and drive your behavior? These are important questions for anyone wanting to practice authentic leadership. And, it’s … [Read more...]
The Problem with Performance Reviews
I’ve always been troubled by performance reviews. I didn’t like them when I was working inside an organization. I don’t like them now that I consult with organizations. There, I’ve said it. I have two problems with performance reviews. One, they … [Read more...]
Leadership is Not All “Get er done.”
“Don’t just stand there! Do something!” We’ve all heard this or said this to someone at some time in our lives. It’s a sign of our need to “do.” We have a preference for action. As a species we are homo completus. We like to get stuff done, tick, the … [Read more...]
People talk. About your leadership. All. The. Time.
People talk. The perceptions that drive the conversations about you in your team and organization are a reflection of your brand identity with people. Your brand is your legacy, the story people tell about us when we aren’t around or when we’re gone. … [Read more...]
The Inconvenient Truth of Leadership Development
It would be terrific (and terribly convenient) if leadership development occurred uniformly in a two or three day workshop. It would be great if our organizational change efforts happened instantaneously and all the result of a single email … [Read more...]
What Do Leaders Do?
What do leaders do? The list is long; but in a nutshell, leaders enable positive transformation. Success in business requires leaders to be able to impact and engage people to join in important work that produces forward movement with positive … [Read more...]
3 Skills of Transformative Leadership
Transformative Leadership is the capacity to impact and engage others in an important work that causes forward movement with positive effect. There are three skills that enable strong transformative leadership. Transformative leaders must be able to … [Read more...]
The Influence Leader
All leaders face three realities; first, they cannot succeed without engaging others and convincing them to devote time, energy, and resources to the leader’s objectives. Second, leaders have no direct authority over most of the people they are … [Read more...]