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Photo by Sally Cummings My wife and I recently sent our daughter off to her second year of college…and her first year living in on her own in an apartment. She texted yesterday to tell me she was baking macaroons for the student group she leads. She wanted to know how I thought they would [...]
Photo by canopic A recent New York Times article discusses research around “decision-fatigue” – the idea that we have a limited amount of mental energy with which to evaluate information and make decisions. The implications for leaders and managers are significant. Making good decisions requires us to manage this energy or we can easily find [...]
Last week’s book review included the concept that effective managers treat different people differently. This week, we look at a resource that suggests effective leaders and managers also treat the same person differently. The book is Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness through Situational Leadership by Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi. [...]
Photo by Mahatma4711 “Remember, you chose this.” Those words were spoken to me nearly twenty years ago. I was complaining about a difficult leadership situation that called for personal sacrifice on my part. The friend I was talking with listened quietly and then responded with those few words. I think about those words when I [...]
Photo by John Morgan Two of the most powerful words in a leader’s vocabulary are also some of the most difficult for many leaders to speak. Last week I wrote about how to ensure we hear the truth. If we commit to hearing the truth, we inevitably discover we screwed up. No leader is perfect [...]
Today’s book review features a title specifically targeted at managers: First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. One distinguishing feature of this book is that it’s based on a huge sample of interviews conducted with managers – over 80,000 of them, as it says [...]
Photo by Eric Pakurar People in positions of power often sabotage themselves and create environments where no one will tell them the truth – often difficult truths about themselves. Even so, leaders and managers have to make difficult and important decisions. In order to make the best decisions possible, you need to have as [...]
Photo by broodkast In my first years of teaching, I had a class of students who consistently came to class, were engaged, and worked to learn the subject matter, yet when it came time to display their knowledge, they struggled to do better than F or D level work. My team and I labored over [...]
There are two books I recommend for leaders who are starting their journey and want to get moving in the right direction. The first is The Leadership Challenge for its down-to-earth and accessible practices which help develop influence and credibility. The second book is the topic of today’s book review: The World’s Most Powerful Leadership [...]
Photo by Horia Varlan I had the honor of serving as part of a Colorado city council led by then-Mayor Joe Rice. Joe went on to serve two terms as a representative in the Colorado State House and has served five tours of duty in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reservist. Even on matters where [...]
