Inspiration
Your organizational culture probably needs tending
What is it like to live in your organization’s culture? Is it a safe, inspiring work environment that demonstrates trust and respect for employees...
Inspiration
Inspiration
What parenthood taught me about being an empowering leader
My second son just graduated high school and heads off to Virginia Tech next fall. He’s the last one out of the nest, and...
Inspiration
Why and how leaders are different
Mark Miller is vice president of organizational effectiveness for Chick-fil-A and the author of “The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to...
Inspiration
How to behave like a leader
Many organizations espouse a set of “leadership competencies”; lists of abilities or traits that their leaders and leaders-in-training need to get proficient at. These...
Inspiration
Do you want power or influence?
Adapted from Organizational Behavior, Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, John Wiley & Sons, 2000, pgs. 311-15 Power or Influence? This is an important question as...
Inspiration
12 ways to reward your best employees
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that...
Inspiration
The No. 1 skill for leading up, down and across
There is one thing, one talent that matters more than all of the training, titles and corner offices combined could lend to your ability...
Inspiration
Know your why
How can we better identify and express our why and motivate those around us to believe in what we believe and perform to their potential? Begin by answering these basic questions:
Inspiration
Basic human values that empower high-performance workplaces
Although business leaders try to boost performance by enforcing rules, their efforts lead, ironically, to disengagement and apathy, and an estimated 70% of employees in the...
Inspiration
Employees say you have a toxic culture? Here’s how to fix it
American Airlines’ merger with US Airways is not going well. American Airlines’ pilots’ union notified CEO Doug Parker in a March 4 letter that...
Inspiration
Start creating your legacy now by developing your people
Working for a global finance company this year, I have been asked to support a variety of leaders in shaping their leadership-development goals. These...
Inspiration
Ask yourself, “What do people need?”
I was born during the Summer of Love, in 1967, when the counter-culture phenomenon erupted into the public’s attention in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood,...
Inspiration
Be open to new ideas
We all want to be respected by others, but how often do we show respect to others, in particular those who report to us?
Inspiration
Lead your peers
You can show someone a better way to do something, but they will not adopt your approach until they trust you.
Inspiration
Feelings at work: 3 reasons why you should care
Credit: Pixabay Squirrels love our backyard. Our large apple tree is a miracle of productivity. Each spring the trunk transforms nutrients under the ground...
Inspiration
Creating a pocket of excellence when you aren’t the CEO
I’ve been speaking, coaching, and writing about how leaders can build high-performing, values-aligned cultures for over 25 years. My proven framework helps leaders create...
Inspiration
Become a serving leader
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” When it comes to leadership, this familiar proverb may be one of the least believed...
Inspiration
How great leaders balance execution and empathy
They’re caring. They also get $tuff done. It’s often the great debate of what defines an exceptional executive, the discussion of EQ (emotional intelligence)...
Inspiration
The 7 forms of courage every leader should demonstrate
Through years of consulting to many organizations, I’ve been blessed to work with wonderful, accomplished leaders — individuals who are deeply in touch with...
Inspiration
Accentuate the positive
How do you motivate yourself? That’s a question I sometimes get and when I do I like to give a three-word answer: Accentuate the...
Inspiration
Leading to liberate: Freedom through discipline
The most effective leaders know how to teach their employees the value of one powerful quality, one that most likely helped them rise to...
Inspiration
How to evolve management
The term management has baggage. It’s associated with conclusions that no longer benefit a business or its people. Management is linked to controlling people,...
Inspiration
The partnership side of leadership
Authority is the last resort of the inept — and frustrated. Parents who have found themselves relying on the phrase “because I said so”...
Inspiration
The “why” of what inspires great Ideas
This post is adapted from the book “Creative Strategy Generation” by Bob Caporale (McGraw-Hill, 2015). Caporale is the president of Sequent Learning Networks. His goal is to...
Inspiration
5 battle-tested strategies for building a team that performs under pressure
In transitioning from the Navy to entrepreneurial life, I’ve learned that stress is relative. To someone who’s experienced life-or-death situations, a missed deadline doesn’t...
Inspiration
Creating an organizational culture of resilience: Resilient leaders are the key
Volatile equities markets, rising interest rates, international turmoil and instability, unstable monetary exchanges, shrinking resources, changing employee values — all of these factors seem...
Inspiration
Pfizer’s straight talk on culture
Pfizer, the multinational pharmaceutical giant, has become increasingly intentional about shaping its culture. You can see evidence of Pfizer’s commitment in Ian Read’s letter...
Inspiration
Leverage your team projects for talent development
Last week, I listened to the familiar laments of bright and dynamic professional I know. Working for a global consulting firm, he joins a...
Inspiration
What’s your story? Leadership and storytelling
Storytelling — once the stuff of childhood nighttime rituals — has grown up and is quickly becoming a go-to tool in the very adult...
Inspiration
3 tips for doing good with your business
This post is sponsored by PayPal. Many entrepreneurs want to improve the world around them while expanding their companies. Having a social mission can...
Inspiration
3 little words
What are the most important three words for any relationship between a manager and employee? No, it’s not “I love you.” Now that would...
Inspiration
Deepening the workplace bond
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” ~ Henry Ford One way for leaders to develop a strong...
Inspiration
Boost employee engagement by encouraging collaboration
Collaboration is a powerful tool organizations can use to boost employee engagement. Working together toward common goals creates a sense of shared values and...
Inspiration
Hit the road, Jack
The best executives with whom I have worked make a point of hitting the road. Executives who get out of their offices and make...
Inspiration
Make your feedback personal
I remember once sitting around the table with my faculty advisory committee. The committee consisted of four teachers from different grade levels and disciplines...
Inspiration
What would your best boss do today?
If you could bring your best boss into your current team or organization right now, what would she do? What would she change or...
Inspiration
What I learned from Jack Canfield
Bosses, CEOs, and strong leaders are commonly stereotyped as powerful, soulless and money-driven individuals. But great leadership requires much more than a desire for...
Inspiration
Sheryl Sandberg’s insights into workplace empathy
Sheryl Sandberg is best known for being chief operating officer at Facebook and as the author of “Lean In” and founder of the subsequent...
Inspiration
The new one-minute manager
Catch them doing something right. In today’s busy work environment, we’re all wearing multiple hats and moving at the speed of sound. It’s easy...
Inspiration
4 ways “good enough” motivates employees for greater growth
Last month, I worked with a manager who was eager to develop her staff, but was overwhelmed by her senior management’s charge to accelerate...
Inspiration
Why leadership capacity is not the goal
Growing leaders grow organizations! This is something I’ve talked about and written about for many years, but my emphasis has been almost exclusively on...
Inspiration
13 ways to re-energize your team
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that...