Tag: Human resources

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 ...

Take Your Candle, And Go Light Your World: Part 1
In my last post, “Find Your Inner Japan Grab,” I promised to kick off a series of posts that ask simple questions of you, so that you find that spark of inspiration that sets you apart from everyone else. To follow the metaphor theme, my hope is that through this series of self-exploration you’ll find ...

I’m Wide Awake
The kids and I were listening to a U2 playlist in the car recently. When the live version of “Bad” was over, one of my eight-year-olds said, “I don’t get this song. What does he mean, ‘I’m wide awake, I’m wide awake?'” I have heard this song no less than 1000 times since high school ...

Answering One Question Could Change Your Life
In the context of being inspired, doing purposeful work and subsequently becoming an authentic leader, there is one question that is sure to give insight to anyone that answers it. Better, it could literally transform you, if you let it. It comes from a fantastic little book called, “Find Your Great Work,” by Michael Bungay Stanier, ...

http://hbr.org/2013/07/connect-then-lead/ar/1
http://hbr.org/2013/07/connect-then-lead/ar/1 Excellent article on influence — in this case, the delicate balance of being liked and showing strength and why the former is more important.

Turn on the Light
No matter who you are or what job you have, there’s a leader in you. However, sometimes leadership stalls between who you are and what others see. What do others see in you? One might call this self-awareness. I call it self-management. With the goal of being adaptable for anything that comes your way, knowing ...

Find Your Way Home
Have you ever gotten lost before? Most people have, such as, taking a wrong turn when driving somewhere. Others have been REALLY lost, like in the wilderness on a hike, or a long camping trip. One thing is true in either scenario: staying lost is not an option. You have to find your way back: ...

5 Steps to Breaking Through Complacency
A reader of my last post, “A Foolproof Process for Acting Courageously,” made a humbling comment: “Good article. One thing I’ve found is that sometimes you can follow the rules in the article and no one cares to listen. I struggle not with the courage part, but with the ability to influence leadership with entrenched ...

A Foolproof Process For Acting Courageously
Over the years I have found and seen in others that courage is easy to talk about: put into corporate “core values,” notice when someone does a courageous act, proclaim it as key to leadership. We inherently know that even the smallest acts of courage cause an enormous, positive ripple effect to ourselves, others, places ...

I Changed, Where is Everybody Else?
Some of the best advice I got from a senior leader during a Leadership Challenge 360 feedback process was, “You’re always three meetings ahead of everybody. Where you want to go is right for the organization, but you need to bring everybody along.” I struggled with that feedback, until I actually tried “bringing others along” and ...