Change and improvement are two words that are often used interchangeably. But is change really a synonym for improvement? And vise versa? Let’s face it, change has earned a bad reputation in recent years. Many of us have had to endure change for change’s sake each time a new leader takes the helm of an [...]
Fear is one of our most primal emotions. It helped our cave-swelling brethren survive – and they presumably passed on their successful genetics to us. Unfortunately, that hard-wired emotion of fear is still with us millions of year later. Fear is a leading cause of procrastination. Seth Godin argues in his book Tribes that it is often the fear of [...]
Some people find themselves in leadership roles quite by accident. Someone quits or retires and overnight you are thrust into a leadership role. Maybe, after the latest restructuring, you are the last man (or woman) standing. Or, worse, you find out its simply your turn to be leader. Conversely, I often wonder whether people choose [...]
The burning platform metaphor is often used to make a compelling case for change. The argument is that resistance to change is not an option and change must be implemented urgently to ensure the very survival of the organization. There are a a lot of problems with the burning platform. First and foremost, it’s overused and [...]
It seems that empathic leadership is increasingly being devalued in organizations. While the great minds of leadership extol the virtues of engaged, supportive “show me that you care” approaches, it appears that many organizations want to embrace a much different set of values. Psychopathic leadership seems to be the new shiny thing that is taking [...]
Actor Bob Denver will always be remembered for his role as the clueless first mate Gilligan on the 1960’s sitcom Gilligan’s Island. And that’s about it. Denver acted in other television roles but generally spent the rest of his career being identified as for his role as Gilligan. Bob Denver was typecast. He was, in [...]
I’ve been hearing a lot of references lately about the need to make “elevator pitches”. This refers to the opportunity to pitch the next great idea to your CEO while riding the elevator. From the time the doors close to when they open again, you’ve got a limited amount of time to make your case [...]
Leaders, by their nature, strive for success. They focus on the success of their organizations and, by default, enjoy a sense of personal achievement when things go well. And they also suffer the consequences -both professionally and personally- when things don’t go according to plan. Why is it that some skilled and successful leaders often [...]
It’s said that without vision, the people will perish. The same is true for organizations. Operating without a clear vision is like flying an aircraft into a fog bank. It’s fine for the first little while but soon spatial disorientation takes over. The result is usually fatal. We expect our leaders to provide a compelling [...]
Most of us don’t go to work to do a bad job. Ideally we want to get it right. But what happens when we can’t get it right? One solution is procrastination. The need to get a project, a report or budget spreadsheet perfect can lead to missed deadlines and fear that nothing less than [...]