Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Lost in the midst of parades, green beer, and Irish music, there is a story of a remarkable leader. That millions of people still celebrate a holiday honoring Patrick, 1500 years after his death, attests to his success as a leader. How does his legacy have anything to do with business leadership today? Leaders are not born into this world; some may arrive with stronger leadership traits or qualities than others, …
Counting our blessings during Thanksgiving often generates optimism and energy. Optimism, as it turns out, makes a difference in business metrics like productivity, customer satisfaction and profit. Why? Because optimistic people expect to succeed. When they encounter obstacles, they try harder – instead of giving up, they find ways to overcome the barriers and reach their objective. Leaders who are optimistic raise the aspirations of their people to see what’s possible and to achieve their …
More is more when it comes to learning. Exceptional leaders recognize each new and unknown experience as an opportunity to learn. They have a profound appreciation for the importance of learning and accept that it necessarily involves making mistakes. “What can we learn?” This is the first question these leaders ask, and by doing so, they cultivate a climate in their organizations that is warm to learning experiences and to the accelerated progress they stimulate. …
Being named as leader doesn’t make you one. Leadership is earned from those you seek to lead. For you to be successful as a leader, they must choose to follow you. Your team will make this choice by judging your truthfulness, your authenticity. The first step you take to establish your leadership identity creates a lasting impression that defines your potential as a leader. Before you can lead others, you must know yourself well, and …
Leaders are change agents. The most effective leaders drive change through coaching that inspires action. It’s almost impossible to overstate the role that coaching plays in transforming behavior. You could be a sales leader seeking to change your company’s selling process. Or, perhaps you are an Operations leader trying to improve a production process. Or, maybe you are a senior leader striving to elevate initiative and employee engagement to improve company performance. You will not …
In 2013, the Edelman Trust Barometer documented that only 18% of people reported that they trusted business leaders to tell the truth. That same year, Gallop polled 180 million employees and reported that only 13% of them are engaged at work. With confidence and morale so low, one attribute is most often mentioned as the primary reason that employees respect their leader. Authenticity enables leadership. But it can also disable it. How is that possible? …
The pursuit of mastery – the drive to be the best, to have an extraordinary technical or other competence – creates an intriguing challenge for business leaders. (See “The Mystery of Mastery” post 6/11/15) Encouraging and enabling their personnel to develop the highest level of expertise in a given discipline is a fundamental responsibility of leadership. But in a world that grows increasingly dynamic, where change is constant, with no finish line in sight, how does …
Managing the ever accelerating pace of change creates a challenge for leaders. In the race to stay ahead, what parts of your business do you preserve and what should you break? The competitive advantage of your exclusive product or service erodes quickly these days. Sustaining a program of continuous innovation and improvement is mandatory to stay ahead of the disruptive forces of unrelenting, rapid change. Implementing such a program drives you to acquire new skills …
Every leader faces a business crisis during his or her career. It’s the defining moment of adversity that tests that person’s leadership competency. What decisions must be made now? What vital actions must urgently be taken? Proven leaders consider 3 key questions when confronting a crisis. 1. What is the current real situation? Leaders first seek to gain a comprehensive understanding about the actual scope of the crisis. This is the diagnostic assessment. What caused …
Leaders are increasingly challenged to preserve balance between their corporate responsibilities and their personal core values. The inability to sustain this balance can cause conflicts for the leader and confusion for those who depend on her or him. A prolonged imbalance can breed distrust in a team. One way to help leaders preserve balance is for them to measure the energy and skill invested in their key activities versus the benefits they receive back from …