“Leaders don’t create followers. They create more leaders.”
– Tom Peters
To lead effectively, it helps to have a solid grasp of some fundamental leadership concepts. Whether it’s establishing core values, understanding fundamental leadership concepts, or learning how best to go about the business of getting things done through people, you should find it here.
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 …
Leading Your Army: Is This Really the One You Wanted? Read More »
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 …
Following the Follower: 15 Ways to Lead Better by Following Better Read 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 …
Change the Game: 7 Ways to Build Teammates Who Can Do More Read More »
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 …
Reintroducing Quibbling: The Kryptonite of Leadership Read More »
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…
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.
“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 …
21 Acts of Kindness to Make the World a Better Place Read More »
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?
“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 …
Bad vs. Good: Why Does the Bad Seem to Outweigh the Good? Read More »
Why should we care about the difference between manager and leader? I was having coffee with a new friend last week. He had been recently promoted to his first supervisory position. As we talked about the challenges he would face, we found ourselves discussing the differences between a manager and …
What’s the Difference Between Manager and Leader, and Why Does It Matter? Read More »
Not long ago, my son called me from Oregon. He was driving some friends to the airport when his car suddenly quit and wouldn’t restart. Beyond attempting to diagnose the problem over the phone, there was little I could do to help from where I was in Minnesota. The good …
The Leader’s Triple-A Club: How to Navigate the Hazardous Highways of Leadership Read More »
Kennedy said that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,” so how do we make sure we keep learning? It’s easy to get caught up in the daily business of getting things done. But if we’re not careful, though we may accomplish much, we don’t become better in the …
The Leader Apprentice: 5 Ways to Master the Learning Mindset Read More »
