One of the central principles of 20th Century Organizational Leadership was the ability of humans to manage highly complicated organizations. This was done by looking at the goal of the organization as an endpoint or an output and predicting all of … [Read more...]
Forget Everything You Know about Leadership.
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...]
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 Development is a No-Brainer
A 2007 McKinsey report (“Management Practice & Productivity: Why they matter”) on the impact of effective management practices on productivity has gotten a lot of attention on twitter recently and is yet another example of the power of leadership. … [Read more...]
Lead Without Holding On
The path of leadership is not about experiencing comfort or certainty. Wanting to get the business or the team to a place of equilibrium is what keeps us miserable as leaders. There is no autopilot. If we are constantly seeking to find pleasure or … [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...]
Leadership and Communication: First, Do No Harm
“A primary role of leaders is to design, convene, and host conversations that matter.” This statement by David Isaacs is true in light of the fact that conversation is a core business process. Business, like relationships, happens through … [Read more...]
Don’t Empower. Lead.
In our work we hear the word ‘empowerment’ a lot. I have to confess I’m not a big fan of this word. It is over-used and perpetuates a hierarchical, “I have power and if you’re good I’ll share some with you” view of leadership. In a business … [Read more...]
Change Leadership
I had an exchange with a leader a while back in which he stated, “I can’t wait until things get back to normal around here.” I asked him what he meant. He said, “Well, once we get done with all this ‘change stuff’ and get back to our jobs.” If there … [Read more...]