10 Unusual Meetings to Make Your Team More Productive
We’ll never be free from the need to have meetings, but that doesn’t mean they have to be long, boring, and unproductive. Here are ten unusual meeting approaches you can use to get out of a rut, stimulate more creativity, and be more productive.
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 […]
Reaching Your Goals: Thoughts From 14,000 Feet
Leading yourself is part of being able to lead others. When you show you are capable of reaching your goals, you demonstrate the potential to help others do the same. In this short video we look at the similarities between mountain climbing and reaching your goals, and motivate you with a few simple steps you […]
How to Find Creative Solutions: The Case of the Falling Egg
Got a problem and having trouble finding a solution? Not long ago I was invited to work with a local youth group on leadership skills. But though I was the “teacher,” the students managed to remind me of something very important about leadership and problem solving. Today we’ll look at three ways you can approach […]
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 […]
Doing it Best but Doing it Wrong!
Have you bumped up to the next level recently? Taken on a leadership role? Congratulations! Just keep in mind that what got you there might not be what keeps you there. Today we’ll take a quick look at a common pitfall new leaders often succumb to, and some good questions to ask that will keep you headed in the […]
When the Plan Fails: 5 Things to Do When it All Falls Through
There’s the plan, and then there’s what actually happens. Sometimes one resembles the other, but many times not. What do you do when you find an enormous gap between the two and everything seems to be falling apart? Today we’ll look at a high-risk plan that failed badly, see what the people involved did about it, […]
Reaching Your Goals: 10 Ways to Help You Climb to the Top
Sometimes after the excitement of a new beginning, things happen that make reaching your goals seem harder than we imagined. On a recent trip to Acadia National Park in Maine with my family, we were reminded of what that experience can be like, and what it takes to keep going. With that in mind, here […]
How to Ask For Feedback: 16 Ways to Get the Input You Need
“How do I ask for feedback from the boss?” A reader posed a great question recently in the feedback section of one of my leadership courses. “I and others like me in our organization rarely hear a few encouraging words or feedback of any type. How does one approach one’s supervisor about something like this?” We’ve talked […]
Book Notes: The Right Kind of Crazy
“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 […]
11 Key Rehearsal Techniques to Keep Your Plan From Getting Torpedoed
In 1914, a German U-boat off the coast of England fired a torpedo that sunk the British passenger liner Lusitania. Even though there were plenty of life vests for every passenger and more than enough seats in the available life boats, most passengers did not survive the encounter. One key reason was that they did […]
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 […]