How to toast my late mother, mentor, and dog
Please join me in toasting the memories of my late mother, a mentor, and Gustav who’s featured in an important new book on animal transitions. All three taught me valuable lessons that you may benefit from as well. As background, over a seven-day stretch in August, I...
How to improve your leadership skills by doing more improv
When leaders I’m coaching lament that they’re having trouble getting stuff done, I take them back to the basics. We examine their will (motivation), their skill (ability) and their ability to get over the hill (overcome any real or perceived barriers in their...
3 ways to be empathetic ─ and powerful
Don’t blame it on the youth. We adults – especially those in powerful positions ─ are guilty too. Even though we’re born with the ability to understand and share others’ emotions, we don’t always practice empathy. Worse, some of us point fingers at others, especially...
5 ways a golden thread improves your focus and clarity
Trying to tighten the linkage between business strategy and operations on either the organizational or individual leadership level? If so, don’t just talk “alignment.” Instead, emphasize the importance of knitting a “golden thread” throughout everything you do. The...
Are you disappointing or reassuring with your crisis messaging?
Stay quiet or speak out to your employees about the latest crisis? Yes, this is another dilemma facing CEOs and other leaders in our VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world. Some employees say they expect to hear from their leaders whenever something...
How to find value in bad role models
“If you can’t fix it, feature it.” This maxim came in handy when I was trying to role model good meeting behavior last week. By definition, respectable meeting behavior means showing up on time. And if you’re the meeting leader, you express your respect by being a few...
How to admit to a biased brain and overcome the backlash
Co-workers criticized me for talking about this topic, and then declined to work with me. Individuals – white and black – told me I was encouraging people to cop out. PBS chose not to air my comments for “America After Charleston.” (The show was a conversation about...
How to take full advantage of your cognitive edge
Are you a powerful player in today’s cognitive age or an authentic cog in the knowledge economy? What’s the difference and why should you care? It’s all about you as a human and how you interact with machines and information. The stakes involve your self-preservation....
Can you develop grit in yourself and others?
The late, great Mohammed Ali had grit. Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance that defines high achievers, according to University of Pennsylvania Professor and author Angela Duckworth. Highly successful gritty individuals ─ in all fields, including...
