A recent conversation with a friend and colleague led to an interesting convergence of thoughts. The first item we discussed related to a recurring and rather distressing item. Today, it is easy to find examples of people or companies engaged in deceit or fraud. Whether it is Lance Armstrong finally fessing up, investment companies using [Read More]
The Lamplighter
December 20, 2012 by 3 Comments
Throughout our years of leadership development work, we have been privileged to meet and get to know a lot of wonderful people. One of our many friends and fellow Leadership Challenge travelers, Roy Yarbrough, sent us the following, as he announced his retirement from his current position. My guess is he will never retire from [Read More]
More than a Flip of the Switch
November 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Stringing holiday lights around my house reminded me of a common misconception about leadership development. For some who have never done it, hanging lights may seem to be a walk in the park. Get out the lights, hang them up, and flip the switch. Presto, your home is magically transformed into something wonderfully different. Many [Read More]
A Must for Successful Change
October 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Frequently I get the opportunity to work with people going through enormous changes in their workplaces. Sometimes, the change is strategy or technology related. Other times it can be a major restructuring or even the process of marrying two merged, but quite different organizations. Regardless of the change which is occurring, I often see people [Read More]
The Wall
September 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I recently heard a Chief Medical Officer describe the deep hurt that is felt after an unsuccessful pediatric code, when a baby loses its fight for life in the emergency room. He made the comment that the attending doctor must be a wall – who must wall off grief, sadness anger or any other emotion. [Read More]
The Power of Validation
August 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I meet a number of people in my work, spending a few days with them in a leadership development process, usually in a setting away from and much different than the office. They arrive with skills, experiences, reputations, personality quirks, and everything else, which I know nothing about. Because of the circumstances we are in, [Read More]
Lessons from 2012 Forum
August 1, 2012 by 4 Comments
I just returned home from the 2012 Leadership Challenge Forum, celebrating the 25th anniversary of this extraordinary leadership model, along with the 5th edition of the book. Whether you were there or not, I thought you might appreciate a few personal reflections from the time with authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, and the community [Read More]
An Unnecessary Sour Taste
July 1, 2012 by 2 Comments
The world would run a lot smoother if organizations were more willing to accept accountability and be a bit more empathetic . The setting was LAX, at 10:30 PM waiting on the red-eye back to Cincinnati. The gate was still showing a 10:47 departure time, but no information of any kind had been provided about [Read More]
Talent Wanted
June 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
As one who works with hundreds of different people each year, I receive LinkedIn connection requests from people almost every week. I appreciate them thinking of me and enjoy hearing from them. And, I have noticed something a bit interesting when I start reading up on them. A large number of the invitations are from [Read More]
One In A Million
June 4, 2012 by 2 Comments
I once again had the privilege of attending the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee held the last week of May near Washington DC. 278 kids, from 6 to 14 years old, traveled to this championship venue to tackle words such as quinquennalia and mumpsimus. (Good luck even pronouncing them and no, they are not in the spell [Read More]
