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Reaching Your Goals

Leading yourself is part of being able to lead others.  When you show you are capable of reaching your goals, you demonstrate the potential to help others do the same. In this short video we look at the similarities between

Jamestown - James Horn

Unity of command is crucial for the success of an organization, yet the colonists settling Jamestown seemed to be actually trying to make it hard on themselves.  In fact, the colony nearly failed several times as a result of their strange

Commitment - Turning Promise into Reality

Where does commitment come from, and how can I get some? Beginnings are fun – there is excitement, optimism, the promise of something new.  Successful endings are great, too, as you watch your idea bear fruit. The tough part comes

7 Steps to Empowerment

“I will let your son burn the pancakes.” This is what I tell visiting parents who are trying to decide if their boy should join our Scout Troop. What I’m really telling them is that we do our best to

Find Creative Solutions

Got a problem and having trouble finding a solution? Not long ago I was invited to work with a local youth group on leadership skills.  But though I was the “teacher,” the students managed to remind me of something very

Influencing the decision

There are the people who have to do what they are told, and then there are the people who get to decide what people do. Doers and deciders.  Which would you like to be? Even if by position you are

Walking with Equanimity

One rainy morning recently I received a wordless lesson in equanimity when a few long-distance backpackers showed me what it looks like to handle a challenge with composure.  Here’s how they turned a negative into a positive and how you

Doing it Wrong

Have you bumped up to the next level recently? Taken on a leadership role? Congratulations!  Just keep in mind that what got you there might not be what keeps you there.  Today we’ll take a quick look at a common pitfall new leaders often

How Not to Quit

Any goal worth taking on is going to require effort, and somewhere along the way you are guaranteed to find your path getting hard.  When the going gets tough, you might ask yourself, “How do I keep from quitting?” Yesterday

When the Plan Fails

There’s the plan, and then there’s what actually happens.  Sometimes one resembles the other, but many times not.  What do you do when you find an enormous gap between the two and everything seems to be falling apart? Today we’ll

Reaching Your Goals

Sometimes after the excitement of a new beginning, things happen that make reaching your goals seem harder than we imagined.  On a recent trip to Acadia National Park in Maine with my family, we were reminded of what that experience

How to Ask for Feedback

“How do I ask for feedback from the boss?” A reader posed a great question recently in the feedback section of one of my leadership courses. “I and others like me in our organization rarely hear a few encouraging words or feedback

The Right Kind of Crazy - Adam Steltzner

“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

rehearsal technique

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

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

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Ken Downer - Founder of RapidStart Leadership
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