Leadership Development Carnival #1
“The new Leadership Development Carnival #1 is up and running at Great Leadership, hosted by Dan McCarthy. This month’s Carnival is an awe-inspiring midway of leadership and leadership development advice and commentary from over 30 leadership pundits,...
What Motivates Leaders?
When it comes down to it, leadership can be quite personal. Some are driven by the desire to succeed, others by opportunity, or fame or simply by money. But more often than not, leaders are inspired by a combination of elements that both create them as leaders and...
Actively Managing Careers
In the cut and thrust of our everyday work lives it is easy to overlook the achievements that you amass each and every year. It may be a new product launch, you may win an award or it may simply be the completion of a long project. Whatever your achievement is, it is...
Democratic Dictatorship
When it comes to leadership, no matter how much a leader may seek the valuable input from their village, at the end of the day, the final decision, regardless of the matter at hand, is the leader’s all alone. This fact makes for interesting management of the...
Choosing the Urgent over the Important
Every person must make choices in their lives. These choices may be monumental or insignificant, they may be personal or they may be professional; but every day, our choices and our decisions measure in the thousands. Consider for a moment, the most mundane of tasks...
What’s Missing in Your Village?
Leaders exist at all levels of an organization. From the newest interns to the most seasoned executives, leaders can be identified by their drive, their passion and their willingness to take responsibility. But sometimes a leader needs to be unearthed, provided with...
Why Talk Kills Meetings
We have all been there. The meeting. A room full of folks listening to a speaker, occasionally taking the baton and sharing some insight, knowledge or point of view -- but generally the talk is all one-way. Research, however, shows us that it is actually the speakers...
Colin Powell’s Lessons in Leadership
There is a long history of business looking to the military for inspiration [think Sun Tzu and the Art of War]. The link between strategy and tactics, determination and flexibility and the importance of communication can be, in the militaristic world, a matter of life...
What Does It Mean When Your Boss Gives You a Book?
Seth Godin has an interesting post about the process of reading. He points out that there are important differences in the way that we read different types of books. Think about it yourself. When I read fiction I go along for the story. I want an experience that I...
Maintaining The Momentum in Tough Times
In good times, it is rather easy to keep employees motivated to "ride the wave." This goes without saying. However, business leaders are not hired to lead only during good times. In fact, true leadership reveals itself in times of difficulty. Martin Luther King...
Putting Success into Succession
One aspect of leadership that is often overlooked in the rush to achieve quarterly or year-end results is succession. The myopia that can affect even the most experienced leaders can have a significant impact not only on personal, divisional or even company-wide...
Are We Making Leaders Myopic?
Bad sight Originally uploaded by rore Are we, as business leaders, being driven to make decisions we might not otherwise make? What I mean by this is, are businesses, especially those that participate in the capital markets, making decisions that address short-term...
My Very Own Survey on Comfortable Misery
My post on Comfortable Misery seems to have struck a chord with a number of people. Chris Young connects the impact that comfortable misery has not only on the individual but also on the company that they work for. Chas points out that it pays to do work that you love...
The Next Big Thing is You
mirror, mirror Originally uploaded by Emu stardust Tom Davenport writes a blog over at Harvard Business Online, called The Next Big Thing. His latest post talks about the Wall Street Journal's Top 50 Business Gurus that I wrote about here, and responds to the...
Oh How Far We’ve Come!
I read an interesting quote today that highlights just how much progress we have made in our collective thinking about women in leadership positions. The quote, from a rather interesting source was in regard to the consideration of the appointment of a woman to the...
Comfortable Misery
misery at work Originally uploaded by milktummy When it comes to jobs, far too many people are in a state of comfortable misery. This is the state wherein, according to Daniel Johnston’s book Lessons for Living, “you are miserable, but you have gotten used to it.” We...
Where are the Women Gurus?
Tom Davenport recently published a list of the Top 50 business gurus for the Wall Street Journal. The Top 5, measured in terms of Google hits, media mentions and academic citations were: Gary Hamel -- leading strategy guru and author of Leading the Revolution Thomas L...
Raise Money and Your Profile
Let the bidding begin. . . Originally uploaded by MarSea According to the Department of Labor, women represent 46% of the labor force. Forty percent of women work in management, and interestingly, women accounted for 51% of all workers in the high-paying management,...
Professional BusinessWomen of California
This past week, I had the good fortune to attend the 19th Annual Conference of The Professional BusinessWomen of California conference. According to the organization, “The annual conference is PBWC's main forum for women leaders to mentor and role model, foster upward...
Conceding to Win
A Sign Originally uploaded by fensterbme We all like to win. After all, be it in personal life or business, it’s better to win than to lose. The trick is to recognize the best path to victory. And often, this path is not always as clear as one might think. In the...