The Perfect Solution
Have you ever received a gift that you both needed and valued? I remember receiving a wheelbarrow for father’s day some years ago. I needed a wheelbarrow but it seemed like the implied message of this tool was; “Now you have no excuse for not doing the yard work.” This gift was needed but not valued. My wife always wanted a back massage and I could never satisfy the need, so I bought her a massage chair. This gift was both needed and valued and years after I gave the gift I still get thanked.
Quit it! Why Leaders Should Stop Answering Questions
The following post is a portion of Jack Zenger’s Forbes.com column. A subordinate drops by your office. She asks, “What do you think we should do about getting the technical manual written for our new product? Should we outsource it or try to find someone inside to do it?” In my opinion, the above interaction … Continue reading
Is your company prepared to fail in 2012?
— The following is a guest post from leadership blogger Andrew Bryant, CSP PCC, founder of Self Leadership International.– A friend of mine is an Asia Pacific Managing Director for a global firm. We were chatting over lunch and I was sharing the need for a long-term approach to developing leaders. “I agree,” he said, “but my … Continue reading
7 Ways to Lead by Going First
— This is a guest post by Bud to Boss blogger, Kevin Eikenberry — To lead someone or something means, literally, to be in front, so that others can see and follow in that direction. Stated another way, if you think you are leading, but no one is following, you are just taking a walk. … Continue reading
Six Core Elements to Leading a Peak Performance Culture
—This is a guest post from Practical Leadership blogger, Jim Clemmer— Organizational culture development is a complex topic with many intertwined leadership components. Establishing a peak performance culture in what’s sometimes called a “green field” situation has different challenges than changing an established culture (sometimes called “brown field”). A participant in our culture change work … Continue reading
The 16 Days of Competencies: #11Builds Relationships
As featured in the article “Making Yourself Indispensable” published in the October 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review. Recently, Harvard Business Review published an article titled, Making Yourself Indispensible, by Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman—co-authors of The Inspiring Leader and principals of the leadership development company, Zenger Folkman. After years of extensive research, we at … Continue reading
Are YOU an Inspiring Leader?
I just returned from a visit to the Pacific Northwest. Our destination was Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. I have a sister there who lives on a lovely boat and we had a “sister’s retreat” with a third sister and niece joining us. This was a very beautiful and inspiring time and place. … Continue reading
Leadership- It’s Everybody’s Issue
In the last few months I have spent time in San Jose, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, England, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Doha Qatar, Amsterdam Netherlands, Orlando, New Haven, Chicago and Mexico City. I have also had conversations with people from India, China, Denmark, Switzerland, Washington D.C., Singapore, South Africa, Egypt, Florida and Japan. I have … Continue reading
Employee Commitment
Dwight Schrute The Office Many of you, like I, have laughed through episodes of the television show “The Office.” The following is a quote from Dwight Schrute, one of the main characters, on his commitment to the organization. “Would I ever leave this company? Look, I’m all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part … Continue reading
The Yin and Yang of Strengths and Fatal Flaws
When Jack Zenger and I discovered that what made leaders great was the presence of strengths and not the absence of weaknesses, it fundamentally shifted our view about how leaders can improve. Our efforts to make leaders better had been primarily focused on fixing weaknesses. As we teach people about this research on building strengths, … Continue reading
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