Insights and inspiration as I attend Zenger Folkman’s Extraordinary Leadership Summit this week in Utah and the world watches the London Olympics: “The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he ‘gets for it,’ but what he ‘becomes by it'” – John Ruskin, 19th century English social thinker, philanthropist, artist, and writer We were […]
Read post »This week I am at the beautiful and inspiring Sundance Ranch in Utah at Zenger Folkman’s Extraordinary Leadership Summit, learning about innovative new research and approaches for developing extraordinary leadership. At the same time, the London Olympics are inspiring us with powerful examples of extraordinary athleticism and the pursuit of excellence. Zenger Folkman’s research shows […]
Read post »I love e-books. Availability in a Kindle version is now one of the main criteria I use when deciding what books to read. Being able to read a book on my computer, Playbook, or Blackberry is much more convenient than lugging around a physical book or magazine/newsletter/newspaper. Making notes, highlighting, and copying passages in my […]
Read post »If you’re a father I hope you enjoyed Father’s Day and were treated like a king. I tried to get our three kids — although they’re now in the twenties and hardly kids anymore — to give me the gift of laughing at all my Dad Jokes all day long. But they would not groan […]
Read post »I recently had a conversation with a vice president about the pressing challenges she’s facing in her division with priority overload. She was looking at bringing her management team to our Leading @ the Speed of Change: Transforming Personal, Team, and Organization Performance public workshop. We decided to tailor a session for her group that […]
Read post »Use this checklist as a “time out” to reflect on your leadership strengths and gaps. When faced with wrenching changes, setbacks, and difficulties do you generally Lead, Follow, or Wallow? What would your team say? How do you know? What percent of your time are you now spending on Technical (applying your expertise and solving […]
Read post »A few months ago I posted a blog on “What’s Your Me/We Ratio? based on a salient observation made by Donald Cooper in his newsletter about managers’ use of “I” and “my,” rather than “we” and “our.” They seem to live by the American pop music star Madonna’s creed: “everyone is entitled to my opinion.” […]
Read post »Up until the late nineties psychology was overly focused on the “sickness model” and treating mental illness. In The Happiness Advantage Shawn points out, “as late as 1998, there was a 17-to-1 negative-to-positive ratio of research in the field of psychology. In other words, for every one study about happiness and thriving there were 17 studies […]
Read post »Electronic tools are incredible. They can enhance communications, build relationships, and increase time effectiveness. Electronic tools can also replace true communication with information overload, damage relationships, and overwhelm our day. Electronic tools are vital and valuable, but they can also become vampires sucking our vital time and energy. Is it time you put them down […]
Read post »A long time reader, P.K. Seshadri, sent this “quip to enjoy and use in your future posts: An amateur photographer was invited to dinner with friends and took along a few pictures to show the hostess. She looked at the photos and commented ‘These are very good! You must have a good camera.’ He didn’t […]
Read post »Happy New Year!! May this be your best one yet! The start of a new year is an excellent time to renew and refocus ourselves, our teams, and our organizations. It’s an essential part of centering or grounding ourselves. In The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching Adapted for a New Age, John […]
Read post »The short video clip Lost Generation continues to be a big hit with keynote and workshop audiences as we discuss our choices to Lead, Follow, or Wallow when faced with challenging changes or setbacks. It features a poem written by Jonathon Reed for a “U @ 50” contest sponsored by the American Association of Retired […]
Read post »It was an eerie coincidence! Maybe it’s because Halloween is about to pounce on us … I had just read my old colleague Jack Zenger, and his colleagues Joe Folkman and Scott Edinger’s excellent article in this month’s issue of Harvard Business Review. Entitled “Making Yourself Indispensible”, the article builds on the strong research and […]
Read post »I don’t recall how this Native American fable ended up in my database: A native brave came upon an eagle’s egg which had somehow fallen unbroken from an eagle’s nest. Unable to find the nest, the brave put the egg in the nest of a prairie chicken where it was hatched by the brooding mother […]
Read post »My last post reviewed Martin Seligman’s new book, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being. Here are a few key excerpts: “When asked what, in two words or fewer, positive psychology is about, Christopher Peterson, one of its founders, replied, ‘Other people.’ Very little that is positive is solitary… Other people are the […]
Read post »Since the mid-eighties I’ve been an avid follower of Martin Seligman’s leading-edge work at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his distinguished psychology career in the late sixties studying pessimism, learned helplessness, and depression. His two previous books, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life and Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive […]
Read post »My last post focused on our work with Aga Khan University; a remarkable example of a highly values and mission driven organization navigating through very turbulent times in difficult parts of the world. In my initial trip last June and my recent visit this May, I had some time to tour the teaming city of […]
Read post »Within 10 minutes of Tuesday’s blog being posted (“Changing Seasons, Changing Skills, Habits, and Perspectives”) an alert reader sent me an e-mail entitled “For Pete’s Sake,” pointing out that I’d incorrectly credited Bob Seger as writer of the song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” from Ecclesiastes. It was actually Pete Seeger. Mia culpa! Sorry Pete! I hope […]
Read post »Persuasion and influence skills have always been a big part of leadership effectiveness. In today’s complex and matrix organizations these skills are central to our success. There are many people and situations that we don’t have direct control over. This could be upward to more senior leaders, outward to our peers and other departments, and […]
Read post »I’ve been an avid reader of Harvard Business Review for over 35 years. It’s often filled with leading edge research, thoughtful observations, and useful approaches to personal, team, and organization leadership. Every few months an issue like May’s comes along bulging with lots of great articles that I file in my electronic database. The regular […]
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