“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”
– John Wooden
Leadership can be like learning to ride a bike: at some point you have to climb on and give it a shot. A few falls are inevitable, but there are skills and techniques that will make the process less painful. On this page, look for tips, tricks, and ideas about improving your leadership skills so that you do less falling, and more flying.
“Are we carrying around things that make us poor leaders?” It’s easy to collect things, harder to let them go. But as leaders we have to be aware that some of those things, one in particular, can get in our way and prevent us from leading as effectively as we’d …
Overloaded: The Thing That Keeps Us From Leading Well Read More »
Is having no limits really a good thing? We often find ourselves wishing that the limitations in our lives were gone. We yearn for a mythical time when we can do whatever we want however we want for as long as we want. Two things about this though: 1) It’s …
Setting Limits: 15 Ways to Do More By Giving Ourselves Less Read More »
“What do we have to do to make sure our message gets through?” When it comes to leadership acoustics, there are three key things to be aware of if we want others to hear what we are trying to say. Last week I visited the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheater near …
Leadership Acoustics – 3 Ways to Send a Message That Gets Heard Read More »
Are there any leadership exercises I can do? Someone asked this question recently, and I thought it was a good one. Learning leadership is tricky business. It’s not like practicing musical scales or pumping iron at the gym. But I do think there are exercises we can do to become …
Leadership Exercises: 7 Ways to Build Your Influencing Muscles Read More »
“How can seeking discomfort be a good thing for leaders?” Hey, I’m here at a local park in Minnesota, getting ready to do my weekly tempo run. Believe it or not, I think that there is a very close parallel between learning to run fast and becoming a better leader, …
Comfortably Uncomfortable: 7 Ways Seeking Discomfort Makes You Better Read More »
Are you a potential leader who’s just looking for an opportunity? Do you think you have what it takes, and just need others to notice your leadership ability? If so, this video is for you. Today we’ll talk about seven things you can start doing today that will get you …
Are You a Potential Leader? 7 Ways to Get Noticed Read More »
“How do you build influence if you are the low person on the totem pole?” We all have to start somewhere, and usually that somewhere is at the bottom of the heap. So how is it that some people seem to climb higher faster than others? It really comes down …
How to Build Influence: Go From Gofer to Go-To with These 3 Simple Steps Read More »
“In any leadership interview, they are going to ask about your experience. What if you don’t have any?” Everyone has to start somewhere. Moving up in the organizational hierarchy often involves taking on a formal leadership role. But if you haven’t had one before, how you respond when they ask …
Leadership Interview: 7 Ways to Talk About Leadership Experience When You Don’t Have Any Read More »
What is it about leading experienced people that makes it so challenging? They know more than we do. They have been there longer. They already have their ways of doing things. Then we walk in and we’re expected to tell them what to do, and when to do it. We …
Leading Experienced People: How to Overcome 3 Dilemmas That Make it Hard Read More »
No one likes to hear that they are not doing well, have weaknesses, or are not measuring up in some way. As leaders it often falls to us to give this kind of feedback to others, and those can be difficult, uncomfortable conversations. But what about receiving critical feedback? Most …
Seeking Discomfort: 7 Ways to Embrace Uncomfortable Feedback Read More »
How can asking questions be more powerful than answering them? In the effort to demonstrate our worthiness to lead, often we find ourselves in a hurry to provide answers. People want guidance, direction, and need to understand priorities. But if we’re playing the Shell Answer Man all day, we miss …
The Power of Asking Questions: 7 Ways Questions are More Powerful Than Answers Read More »
Why should anyone listen to you? If you’re trying to lead people, one of the first challenges you face might be just getting them to listen. This can be doubly challenging if you happen to be newer to the team or younger than the others. When it comes to getting …
Getting Them to Listen: How to Get People to Hear What You are Saying Read More »
