For many, springtime is a time of becoming reinvigorated. Trees are blooming, flowers are blossoming and the dormant, brown yards turn green almost overnight. There is something about the reemergence of life after the dead of winter. New growth is an incredibly inspiring thing. Leaders, much of your role is about growth, ensuring that people [Read More]
What Do You Fear?
Once a year I am supposed to change the filters in my furnace. They get dirty and prevent proper airflow which can put unnecessary strain on the motor. The same is true with the air filter on my car – and likely with my lawnmower, vacuum cleaner, and every other motorized device I own. To [Read More]
A Much Different World
Picture a lemon in a vise. As the vise tightens, some juice starts to leak out from a few small cracks. From then on, it takes just a little more cranking until the lemon is squeezed so tight, it simply bursts. There are many leaders today who may feel like they are that lemon, and [Read More]
The Dilemma of Mandates
You might not be aware that the word manage comes from the Latin root manus, which means hand. Quick translation – managers handle things. On the other hand, the root of leadership means to go, guide, or travel. Leaders take people places. Quite a difference, even at the root level. Why do I mention this? [Read More]
Mandates For a Fulfilling Career
In our recent book, Ignite the Extraordinary, co-author Tom and I wrote about various phases people pass through during their careers. The first phase we titled Finding the Light and the second was Learning to Fly. We suggest you pay close attention to them in assessing your own career progress right now. And for those [Read More]
Don’t Cave in
Immediately following the Presidential inauguration, there was a lot of “breaking news,” coming from some of the medical professionals serving the previous Presidential administration during the 2020 COVID-19 challenge. Based on their own words, the research, advice, and counsel they offered were often times drastically ignored or worse, re-worded inaccurately. There is video of Dr. [Read More]
Be a Decider, not a Criticizer
Welcome to 2021. Hallelujah. As we move forward into the year, I hope we can soon leave behind constant worry about a microscopic virus leaping tall buildings and penetrating masks and face shields. We must of course all remain vigilant – and smart, but hopefully we will make giant strides in getting this problem controlled [Read More]
The Wonderful Mental State That Reduces Stress (M)
My friend and long-time colleague, Jim Kouzes, sent me the article below, from a recent edition of PsyBlog. Given the world we are living in today, it offers some fascinating insights on reducing the kinds of stress you may be feeling. Hope you enjoy. _______________ The Wonderful Mental State That Reduces Stress (M) The state [Read More]
The Elusive Common Good
One of the most documented differences of a leader is that she or he provides a vision of the future – a clear destination of a better tomorrow. No argument about that. Visions provide hope – and inspire us to work hard to achieve that better place. In defining an inspiring vision, we commonly use [Read More]
Can You See It?
Never underestimate how powerful selective perception can be. I was not surprised at all to hear and read that the day after the first Presidential debate of 2020, supporters of each candidate were totally convinced that their candidate of choice just slammed his opponent. Now, how can that be? That thing called Congeniality Bias is [Read More]