What does it take to question the status quo and produce something original? That’s the question that author Adam Grant poses in his 2016 book Originals:  How Non-Conformists Move the World.  The answer he reaches might surprise you. Grant takes us on a journey through recent history, into the psychology lab, and behind the doors […]

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Leadership is about influencing people in a specific direction, but sometimes that direction needs to change. A book I just read provides a great framework to figure out when you need to change, and what strategic direction to head. But more importantly, it also provides several effective tools to help us drive change when the […]

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Why should leaders sweat the small stuff? Someone said that you shouldn’t “sweat the small stuff”  but based on what I just read, they have it all wrong.  Sometimes it’s the small things that can make all the difference.  If you want to be effective as a leader, there’s good reason why you should pay […]

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What do you do when your team is falling apart? We all know that in most cases you can accomplish more as a team than as an individual. But what happens when the “teamwork” part erodes away and all you have left is a group of individuals masquerading as a team?  How do you diagnose […]

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I hope you have problems. That’s a good thing, really.  A book I read recently cast a whole new light on what it means to have problems as a leader, and what you should do about them. Today we’ll talk about why having problems can be good, and how you can handle them in a […]

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Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick was a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish.  If you like historical non-fiction that reads like a novel, this is a great one to add to your library. Aside from telling the fascinating story of the events leading up to the American Revolution, there was something near the end […]

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Lacking confidence in your leadership?  Are you an insecure leader?  Sometimes the things we are tempted to do to compensate for insecurity are the worst options, as Lieutenant Wilkes, United States Navy, found out the hard way in 1838.  Here’s what happened, how you can avoid these seven deadly habits, and build the confidence you […]

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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 approach to establishing leadership.  Here’s what they did, and what we can learn from them […]

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“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 personalities to work with.  You have tight budgetary limitations, a rapidly shrinking timeline and high […]

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What kind of person does it take to kidnap a Nazi General? That’s the question that Christopher McDougal asked when he wrote Natural Born Heroes. In an epic but little known story from World War II, Greek resistance fighters on the island of Crete were able to pull off this amazing feat in the capitol […]

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