Celebrity or Character

Greetings Leaders, My oh my, there is a lot going on in the world these days. Over the past few years, I have noticed a rise in examples of celebrity leadership, rather than character leadership. People in leadership positions are being drawn by the spotlight. This has almost always been natural among political leaders. They [Read More]

Dealing with Uncertainty

There is an increase of angst in the air right now. This is what happens during any kind of major disruption when change is in process and uncertainty abounds about how things will end up. Regardless of your politics, the new administration seems to be the epicenter of a lot of this angst. Nonprofits and [Read More]

Having Hope

Greetings Leaders, I recently heard the proverbial broken record from a long-time client. When talking about what the upcoming year was looking like for her company, she said the president had made it clear that the new year would be even tougher than this past year, which had involved massive re-structuring and spirit-breaking prolonged job [Read More]

The Slippery Slope

Immediately below are 4 figures. Let me explain and the name of this sequence will soon become all too obvious.       In this first figure, the X is your moral/ethical center based on your values. The circle around it includes the behaviors that you consider to be moral and ethical. In the second [Read More]

Three important Tips

There is one theme about work today that I hear about in nearly every interaction I have with others. It seems we are in a period where the mental health of people in the workplace is of great concern. And why wouldn’t it be given the past few years. For example, one apparent fact offered [Read More]

How Can I Help

How Can I Help?” is an important opportunity for true leaders.  I hope that you will think about and consider this question.  Real leaders understand what “How can I help” means and they do it! This month’s thoughts are from Tom Heuer, former professor at Miami University and longtime leadership thinker. Tom and I have [Read More]

Change and Credibility

You need to be aware of how constant change can impact your credibility as a leader. Think about how change typically occurs in the workplace. Day one, leadership announces some rather significant change the organization will be undergoing. They explain it as best they can, including the reasons it is necessary. There is the usual [Read More]

Changing Expectations of Leaders

During my 30 plus year career working in leadership development, there have been a couple of admired characteristics which high percentages of people continually said they looked for in their leaders. They are Forward-Looking and Inspiring. It makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, leaders are people who step up to take us to places we [Read More]

Struggling With Trust

According to recent Gallup polls, trust is declining again, especially in some of the major institutions. It is probably not surprising that Congress, television news, and newspapers tend to fall at the bottom of the list of organizations most trusted. Trust and confidence in big business also remains low. On the other hand, small business [Read More]

Power of Purpose After Loss

Not too long ago, I lost my wife of 45 years to cancer. Do I still grieve? Yes. Are there still moments of great sadness? Yes. Do I find my eyes occasionally welling up with tears? Yes to that as well. Am I aimlessly floundering? Absolutely not. For you see, I discovered a lesson in [Read More]