Leadership Mistakes: 3 Things to Do When You Really Step In It
What should a leader do when they make a mistake? Nobody likes to “step in it,” but leadership mistakes will happen. What you do when they occur makes all the difference. Do these three things well, and you may end up with a stronger team than you started with.
How to Be a Great Boss: 9 Ways to Get a 5-Star Rating From Your Team
What does it take to be a great boss? Some bosses are more memorable than others, and some perhaps you’d like to forget. But what does it take to be a great boss? What distinguishes the one that people remember years later as the leader who made a difference? I was fortunate to work for […]
The Role of Fear in Leadership: Is it Better to be Feared or Loved as a Leader?
Is it better to be feared or loved as a leader? It’s an age-old question that seems to keep cropping up. Authoritative writers talk about how leaders need to be open, transparent, empathetic, and willing to listen. Yet like the Humble Leader Paradox, if that’s the way you act, great, but what’s to keep people […]
6 Powerful Ways Leaders Reflect, and how Reflection Makes Your Team Great
What is reflection for leaders? Reflection sounds like a passive exercise you do by yourself. It seems to involve sitting in a chair in a darkened room and journaling about the meaning of things. Maybe that’s part of it, but I think for leaders there is much more to it than that. Leaders reflect actively, […]
Book Notes: Bunker Hill – Right Vision, Wrong Goal
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 […]
7 Leadership Paradoxes: It’s Not What You Thought
Too often the new leader steps forward to take charge, but quickly becomes frustrated when people won’t listen to his demands. What’s wrong? These leaders don’t see the paradoxes of leadership. What they think they need to do to be a good leader is actually making it harder for them to lead. Today we’ll talk about seven […]
Leading Your Friends: 9 Ways to Lead Your Former Peers
Congratulations – you’ve just been promoted to Team Lead! What’s the bad news? It’s the same team you’ve been on. How are you going to lead your friends? One of the hardest things to do as a leader is to lead your peers. When you all come from the same starting point, what is the basis […]
Book Notes – Sea of Glory: The 7 Habits of the Highly Insecure Leader
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 […]
Building the Team: Why You Don’t Need New Shoes
Think you need to make a change on your team? Not able to advance because someone is holding you back? It is easy to catch yourself thinking along these lines. But the other day I came to an interesting realization when I paused to think about my old running shoes. Here’s why your “racing” success is […]
Influencing the Decision: How to Transition from Doer to Decider
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 supposed to be a doer, there’s a way that you can take on more and […]
How to Get Kicked Out of Leadership School: 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 is high – anywhere from 40-60% of this select group still don’t make the grade […]
How to Get Inside their Heads: Understanding the Team Development Model
Effective team development requires us to understand the life cycle of teams; here are the stages and how to lead effectively every step of the way.