A new McKinsey & Company study reports that the training industry “estimated to be more than $50 billion are delivering disappointing results. According to a recent Fortune survey, only 7 percent of CEOs believe their companies are building effective global leaders, and just 10 percent said their leadership development initiatives have a clear business impact. […]
Read post »Does your team or organization need to improve communications? Would you like to get more e-mails every day? I’ll often ask those two questions in workshops when we’re discussing communications. Most hands go up when asked who would like to improve communications. Often no one raises a hand when asked who would like to increase […]
Read post »Recently our two-year old granddaughter couldn’t find her favorite toy character from her farm set. She was frantic. It was all she needed right then to make her life complete. Her mom and dad looked everywhere but couldn’t find it. Her dad offered the sage advice, “Mya, why don’t you focus on all the toys […]
Read post »Summer Reading Series Final Installment (4 of 4) Read Installment 1 and Installment 2 and Installment 3 Click to download the entire 4 part series as a PDF Some months after they had implemented the new leadership plan, Frank talked with Pat about how well the improvement process was going. He reported that energy and […]
Read post »Summer Reading Series Installment 3 of 4 Read Installment 1 and Installment 2 Click to download the entire 4 part series as a PDF – Organizational Transformation: Liberating the Corporate Soul, Richard Barrett Frank found that Richard Barrett’s seven-level hierarchy provided a useful model for thinking about what was needed to bring spirit and meaning […]
Read post »Summer Reading Series Installment 2 of 4 Click here to read Installment 1 Click to download the entire 4 part series as a PDF Frank had a few ideas about how to strengthen his leadership and bring more spirit and meaning into the organization. But he felt that he needed the fresh and informed perspective […]
Read post »Summer Reading Series Installment 1 of 4 In the midst of that morning’s operations review meeting, Frank started wondering just how the company had lost its heart. As he looked around the meeting room he saw nothing but stern faces, apprehensive expressions, and a few stifled yawns. The humorous quips he had added to the […]
Read post »60 percent of companies facing leadership shortages that impede their performance. 31 percent say developing leaders is their largest talent issue. And 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day. Despite such a pressing need for leadership development, many organizations are significantly overlooking or under developing women. Zenger Folkman has been tracking differences in leadership effectiveness for […]
Read post »In the fall of 2016 the Chicago Cubs ended a 108 year drought to win the World Series. Television ratings soared by 50% as baseball fans everywhere were caught up in this dramatic and engaging story. In their World’s Greatest Leaders rankings, Fortune magazine ranked Cubs president, Theo Epstein, as #1 leader for orchestrating this […]
Read post »Aesop, the ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller observed, “After all is said and done, more is said than done.” Culture change is a perfect example. Many leaders proclaim culture change is a key strategic objective. And for good reason. Culture’s been well proven as a critical “soft” factor that produces hard results. Signs of a […]
Read post »Operating inside the centralized versus decentralized paradox and finding the right balance has been a perpetual conundrum for many organizations. Deciding which model to use is often a values issue centered on issues of control, trust, and autonomy. We’re working with a high growth international resources company acquiring and adding new sites and divisions across […]
Read post »Can a leader be highly effective (increase productivity, profitability, service/quality levels, boost safety, etc.) without being liked? Less effective leaders often think so. They might declare “it’s not a popularity contest, I don’t care if people like me; my job is to get results.” Unlikable leaders get results alright — poor and unlikable results. Zenger […]
Read post »The May-June issue of Harvard Business Review reports on an extensive 10-year study of “What Sets Successful CEOs Apart.” 14 researchers led by professors Steven N. Kaplan at the University of Chicago and Morten Serensen of Copenhagen Business School, drew from a database of assessments of 17,000 C-suite executives including more than 2,000 CEOs. The […]
Read post »In his classic book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, American mythologist and writer, Joseph Campbell outlined common steps to the hero’s journey. These cut across cultures, times, and every society’s stories, fairy tales, novels, and movies. We’re all living in our own novel. We write a page each day of our own action adventure. […]
Read post »Erin (not her real name) is a rising high potential director now reporting to a new VP. He was hired from the outside with a mandate to revitalize their department. Erin is upset and struggling. The personal values and leadership approaches that made her so effective were seen as too soft and not results-focused enough […]
Read post »Many organizations are struggling with low or mediocre levels of employee engagement, customer service, quality, safety, productivity, and innovation. This reflects uninspiring cultures of mediocrity created by harried leaders madly scrambling to keep up. An organization’s culture ripples out from the senior leadership team leading it. In “Is Your Leadership Team Slipping into These Traps?” […]
Read post »Often a “dragon investor” on the Dragon’s Den TV show or a “shark investor” on the Shark Tank show will decide not to invest in a hopeful contestant’s company because he or she feels the budding entrepreneur isn’t “coachable.” An article in Entrepreneur magazine on how to attract venture capital investors lists coachability as one […]
Read post »Putting too many monkeys on his or her back is a common frustration of many leaders. This happens when a team member approaches the leader with a problem or issue (“a monkey”) and the leader adds it the tribe of howling monkeys on his or her back. In discussing “monkey management” methods, workshop/retreat participants will […]
Read post »When our kids were young I was often reminded of the old adage “children act like their parents — despite all attempts to teach them good manners.” When one of our kids did something I wasn’t especially pleased with, I found myself asking “where did you learn that?” When I stood back and I reflect on […]
Read post »Years ago I reported to Harold, a leader who proudly described his MBE approach — “management by exception.” “If you haven’t heard from me, that’s a good sign,” he explained. “That means I think you’re doing just fine. I only deal with the exceptions. I look for problems and people that need correcting. Those are […]
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