What kind of personality succeeds in an environment where the failure rate is over 90%? Can an entrepreneur with any personality become successful? Or do … Read more
Leaders Need to Show They Care About Customers
A good job. Good pay. Good benefits. Twenty, maybe even 10 years ago, that’s what the majority of employees expected from employers. The value of a career … Read more
Leaders Live In a Bubble You May Just Have to Prick
Leaders live in bubbles. If your childhood summers were anything like mine, you spent a good deal of time blowing thousands of soapy bubbles through a … Read more
You Can’t Fix What You Refuse to See
“It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” — Mickey Mantle Understanding what lies ahead is critical to … Read more
Love: The Next Leadership Skill
To paraphrase Jackie DeShannon, “What the business world needs now is love, sweet love.” What’s love got to do it? Exactly what Robin … Read more
Good Managers Aren’t Born. They’re Trained Early
“I am actually a good manager. I have had other people in the office comment on my managerial behaviors and they like it. Cause I treat people under me … Read more
Being ‘Right’ Doesn’t Make You Right
Thinking you are right is a blind spot; not just for intellectuals, but for anyone who places being right above being sensitive to his or her surroundings. … Read more
The 5 Courages HR Needs to Be Good Followers
HR needs to stop leading and start following. Did that get your attention? Good, because that’s what Tim Vanderpyl, associate professor at Calgary, … Read more
What Do You Do When Bosses Go Wild?
“I see the classic image of the boss as a total anachronism. It may work in certain connotations like ‘organized crime boss,’ ‘union boss,’ or ‘pit boss.’ … Read more
Yesterday a Colleague, Today You’re the Boss. Now What?
“How do you handle it when you are now supervising your former teammates?” is one of the top five questions I get when teaching supervisory skills. This … Read more
How to Gracefully Admit You’re Wrong
In a past organization, I routinely interacted with an employee who just couldn’t bring himself to admit being wrong about anything. No matter if we were … Read more
The First Step to Great Leadership is Self-Awareness
“While I was waiting for my interview in a reception area, a pizza delivery man, a young guy dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, carried in a heavy pack of … Read more
You Can Help Managers Be Better Managers
Everyone is aware of friction when it exists in the office. Whether it’s an undercurrent you feel or scuttlebutt around the water cooler, you want to shout … Read more
Want to Spark Innovation? Start by Changing How You Listen
With millions of messages bombarding us every day, the ability to listen is becoming a lost art. As leaders, we need to be able to hear what can move our … Read more
Narcissists Become Leaders. What Do You Do If You’re Not One?
Do you work closely with executives? If you do, you’ve probably run into a few surprising aspects to leadership that don’t get talked about … Read more
How to Help Managers Develop Their Emotional Intelligence
Although it’s now widely accepted that emotional intelligence (EI) is vital for managers, people still tend to assume that two of the most fundamental EI … Read more
What Toys R Us Teaches Us About Leadership Cultivation
The demise of Toys R Us — the toy store that captivated every elementary schoolkid’s daydreams — was ultimately just another illustration of management … Read more
Competence Isn’t Enough. You Need Champions and Maybe a Little Narcissism
Do you work closely with executives? If you do, you’ve probably run into a few surprising aspects to leadership that don’t get talked about … Read more
The 21st Century Way to Getting Your People to Do Great Work
Leading is like parenting — everybody thinks they do a much better job than they actually do. There’s a definite gap between how most executives assess … Read more
Put Away the Phone. Leave the Office and Start Meeting the People Who Do the Work
Note: The following is an excerpt from the author’s new book, When Leadership Improves, Everyone Wins. Realize that as leaders, we are signal … Read more