Back to Work We Go & Leadership Essential #3: Leaders Keep Commitments
Good morning – first Thursday after Labor Day! Time to bring your summertime shorts, t-shirt, flip-flop-wearing-self back to work! This morning, two thoughts – one marking the change of season; the other, a third installment in my Leadership Essentials series – something that frustrates your followers so much when you don’t do it! First, here […]
Leadership Essential #2: Leaders Elevate Others
Good morning! Three items for you this morning: a new Leadership Essential – one of those attributes that every good leader possesses; also, a follow-up to my last post on “the four powerful words;” plus an excellent list of leadership attributes. First, a true story. Towards the end of my first year as an Army […]
Four Powerful Words for Leaders
Good morning! We are now halfway through summer. This reminds me to make every day (of summer) count! Rest. Enjoy. Be intentional. A couple of quick thoughts for you this morning – one, a powerful leadership thought; the other, a book I have been reading this summer. First, a powerful thought that you can use […]
Leadership Essential #1: Take Responsibility
Good Thursday morning! It seems about 1/3 of the people I know right now are on vacation (many in Europe). I hope you are in a similar place or have plans to be soon! I started the week in Pittsburgh, and am ending it in New Jersey, with a trip to Sarasota in between – […]
Leadership Essentials
Good Thursday morning! Summer is here! It’s a warm, humid morning in Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s even warmer and more humid in Fort Benning, Georgia, 90 minutes south of Atlanta, where my son, Will, is training as a new Army officer. Regarding leadership. I know of no other school on leadership that can match that of […]
Selfish Leaders
I’m recovering from a recent case of overdrive. For most of last year, I was pushing myself through a perfect storm of demands: leading a growing business and all its growing busyness, a house move after 12 years from Kentucky to Charlottesville, and many other personal obligations, including the settling of my late mother’s estate. […]
Leading Next
Automobiles. Apartments. Laundromats. What do these “traditional” industries have in common? All three represent companies under leaders I know who are taking disruptive technologies seriously. The auto dealer is not only studying Tesla – now the most valuable car company in the United States – but also autonomous vehicles, ride services like Uber and Lyft, […]
Creativity vs. Reactivity Take Two
One leader responded to my last post on Creative vs Reactive by telling me his own story of reacting in a way he wishes he could take back. He and a colleague were at an industry conference when they bumped into a client. The client asked a fairly innocent question in a crowded noisy room […]
Creativity vs. Reactivity
Last month, I had a surprising realization that reminded me there is still so much I don’t know that I don’t know. While on vacation with my family, I intentionally disconnected – from my phone, email, and work in general. When I took this full stop, it suddenly hit me how much of my work […]
The Discipline of Creativity
Ten years ago, when I first started writing regularly – for my book and my blog – I had to overcome a fear that I didn’t have anything new or useful to share with others. I did not think of myself as very creative. How about you? Do you have some area where you need […]