All posts by Christine McLaren

Book is Published!

I wanted you — my long-time blog subscribers — to be the first to know that the book I’ve co-authored with former colleague, Kelly McCleary, You Are Born to Lead: Reflect, Adapt, and Make an Impact Right Now, is now published and available for purchase in print and Kindle formats on Amazon.com! This has been ...

Big Questions, Simple Answer

Publishing update: We are currently working on the Kindle (eBook) conversion of the printed book, You Are Born to Lead. Stay tuned! The below might be helpful to you in the meantime. Often when I was an HR lead, managers and executives would ask big questions like, “How do I get people to change more quickly?” ...

“They Just Get It” Method of Putting the Right People on the Bus

One time while interviewing with an executive leader, I referenced meeting next with X leader on his team. The executive’s reply was, “Oh, good. He gets it.” Later in a more casual setting, I asked this executive what he meant by, “X gets it.” Actually, I did see what he meant after meeting with this person. ...

The Best Change Management Lessons From an Unlikely Source

Becky Rom, National Campaign Chair for the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, would not call what she does courage. That was my original intent in contacting her regarding her years-long quest to create a permanent ban on sulfide-ore copper mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. With the campaign’s 18 million followers ...

Improve Leadership Ranks With This Simple Change

Organizations go to great lengths to help managers improve their leadership skills. This perpetual gap may be the single biggest organizational challenge of our time. Imagine the positive impact to organizations if we figure this out! Why the continued gap in leadership skills? In my lengthy HR career, I have found that often people seek ...

Three Steps to Jump-Start Any Team

The beginning of a newly formed team represents such a big opportunity. New teams could include situations like: New leader to an established team. An existing team is asked to take on more responsibility. Leader wants to redirect an existing team. New team and leader for enterprise process or other change. Department team assembled to ...

What I Learned About My Family and Leadership at 13,069 Feet

This is a story about the miracle of challenging experiences and how my family showed leadership. (Spoiler: don’t worry, we were never in any real danger and nothing bad happened to us!) My husband, twin 11-year-old girls and I recently spent a week in Estes Park, Colorado hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We’d start ...

Be Shocked By What You Accomplish With This Simple Method

There isn’t a lot more you can say about the New Year holiday that hasn’t already been said. However, one concept is worth repeating every year: choose some goals. We are in a constant state of contradiction. There is a part of our brain that strives for homeostasis, to have things stay the same, tied to ...

Go Light Your World, Part III: I Believe

To effectively lead, we must shine from the inside first. Adding the latest leadership traits to your skill set hardly ever works unless it fits with your true self, and well, you need to know your true self first to be an effective leader. Speaking of your true self, have you ever spent time thinking ...

Go Light Your World, Part II — What Inspires You?

In my last post, I asked you to spend a few minutes capturing what were Peak Moments from your past. This exercise gets to the heart of when you were at the top of your game. Each week in this series builds on the next, so a theme starts to emerge. The very tangible result ...