The Leadership Eye Test: A Simple Checkup for Your Team’s Health
A leadership “eye” test may be just the thing we need to make sure the long-term health of our team is not in danger; here’s a simple way to get a checkup.
Leadership Concepts
Transformational Leadership: 5 Steps to a Brighter Future with Your Team
He found a creative way to complain about a relationship gone bad, but the words of his song reveal the difference between merely managing people and truly leading them. What did he say? Today I’ll share his thought-provoking quote and how it can inspire us to become transformative leaders in …
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The Dangers of Taking the Easy Way
“What’s wrong with taking the easy way?” Sometimes the answer to our problem seems easy. But the easy solution may not always be the right one. Today in “Lines for Leaders” I’ll share what one famous person said about the dangers of taking the “easy way,” along with some thoughts …
Leading Your Army: Is This Really the One You Wanted?
If leading your army feels like a parade, you might be doing it wrong. Appearances are important, and first impressions matter, but too often we can find ourselves overly focused on how things look at the expense of how well they function. When it comes to leading your army, what …
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Following the Follower: 15 Ways to Lead Better by Following Better
Can being better followers make us better leaders? Focusing on following may seem an odd way to tackle the challenges of leading, but there’s a power in this approach we can easily overlook. There’s a danger in ignoring it, too. That was a lesson I learned the hard way deep …
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Change the Game: 7 Ways to Build Teammates Who Can Do More
How do we increase the odds of “winning” with the team we have? At the beginning of any game, everyone starts with the same number of players on the board. And in the rush to get things done, we focus on moving those players around the best we can. If …
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Reintroducing Quibbling: The Kryptonite of Leadership
What is quibbling and why does it matter to leaders? Do you remember watching Superman, and seeing what happens to him when he comes in contact with Kryptonite? How weak and ineffective he becomes? I think that there’s something just as powerful that we are all exposed to every day, and …
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Authentic Leadership: Ornamental Hermits and Why We Should Avoid Them
In the middle of the 18th century in Europe, it was fashionable to have your own personal hermit. Sounds crazy, I know, but there it is. How did this come about, and more importantly, what can it tell us about authentic leadership? I was hoping you’d ask…
Kings, Cannibals, and Cultural Bias: Overcoming the Limitations of Convention
A strange encounter between a French king and several cannibals from South America sheds light on cultural bias, and what it takes for leaders to see past the limits of our own experience.
21 Acts of Kindness to Make the World a Better Place
“What’s the maximum effective range of a good deed?” It was 4:30 in the morning. Two weary fire fighters walked into a local diner in New Jersey. Smelling of smoke and tired from battling a warehouse fire all night, they were hungry and needed a rest. The friendly waitress brought …
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Who’s Your Second? Are We Really Leading, or Just in Charge?
Are you indispensable? Should you be? We make the plans, give the orders, follow-up on everybody and everything. Nothing happens without our say-so. The machine is humming and we are at the controls. It feels like leadership. But is it?
Bad vs. Good: Why Does the Bad Seem to Outweigh the Good?
“When it comes to Bad vs. Good, why do bad things get all the attention?” There’s a struggle between good and bad and it’s happening on our teams. The bad news? The “bad” is far more powerful than the “good.” The good news? As leaders, we can use the power …
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