Competencies

In his famous work, Good to Great, Jim Collins coined the phrase “level five leader.” The leaders Collins wrote about were ones who were fiercely...

Working from home can be amazing: no stress from commuting or rain-soaked work uniforms, plenty of money and precious time saved, and, let’s be...

How a leader begins the day impacts the entire day. If a leader begins a day in chaos, the entire day will likely be...

I’m sometimes shocked at how little I have to actually do in order to make an impact on another person.  When I coach leaders, I often...

Most leaders I talk with are working too hard; they never shut it down. No wonder they run out of ideas.

Communication and leadership are intertwined and deeply connected. When leaders fumble in execution, culture formation, or rallying a team, the fumble is often in communication. Leadership mistakes are often synonymous with communication mistakes.

Many people aren’t looking for a rational explanation from their leaders, but for a relational connection.

Many times, groups get “stuck” in the “desert of creativity” – going around in circles without any clear path toward fruitful collaboration. It is the job of the neutral facilitator to help their groups find common ground and move forward together. This is sometimes difficult, but other times it is simply a matter of helping people see things from a different perspective.

Wise leaders apply their best thinking to the most important things. This is, of course, easier said than done because of the sheer volume of things that leaders are asked or required to think about. Because we are finite and flawed, we have a limited amount of mental capacity. So how can a leader create mental capacity?

If a leader does not set priorities, the pressures of today and the problems that fill an inbox will dominate every day’s agenda.

Every once in a while I see leaders hesitating to act for no apparent reason. Probing, I've found a number of leaders seem to be waiting for permission. What keeps them paralyzed is that those expected to grant permission don’t even know their permission is hoped for.

We want to bring the best of ourselves to work. There is a science to how we rest and restore our energies and creativity.