How-To’s of Self-Education
Allow me to continue speaking to you in this Leading Thoughts about a theme I started last time. It was the theme of self-education. You may remember that I said that if I was asked to name one skill that would most likely lead to success in the years to come for most leaders, it would be self-education. This hit a nerve with many of you and I began getting requests to disclose how I do my own self-education. I’m happy to help. So, here, in brief, is how I learn what I need to learn. First, I constantly ask[read more]
The Key to Future Success
I’m always hesitant when I hear someone claiming that there is one skill that is the key to all future success. I know there is no such thing. A matrix of skills will lead to success in the future, just as a matrix of skills has always led to success in the past. Any other claim is just overheated advertising. Still, if I was held at gunpoint and forced to name only one skill that will most likely lead to the best chance of success in the years to come, I would name this one: the skill of self-education. We[read more]
The Enemy is Staleness
There is an enemy of great leadership that few leaders recognize and so few leaders combat. Yet this enemy is robbing them of top effectiveness and destroying some of their most noble dreams. This enemy is staleness. I imagine this sounds strange to you. Something more like poor management or small thinking or flawed people skills would be more likely answers. Yet staleness is a cancer to great leadership and I want to urge you to declare war upon it. Ponder this with me. Particularly as leaders rise and become more successful, their lives become more marked by routine. They[read more]
Bedroom Talk
I’ve seen some pretty serious messes occur when leaders forgot a very simple principle. That principle is this: There is a difference between what we say in the living room and what we say in the bedroom. There are things Bev and I will say in front of friends. There are things we’ll say in front of complete strangers. But there are many things we say only to each other and only in private. This is what I broadly call our “bedroom talk.” Yes, this category includes romantic things but it is far beyond that. It is also about our[read more]
Steps for Life and Leadership
Happy 2019 to you. May this New Year be your best yet. Now, let’s get to it. There are steps you can take that will change your life and leadership in this new season. I want to talk to you about some of these, though my list will certainly differ from those you commonly see at this time of year. Spend More Time In Your Control Room There is a control room from which you run your life. It is usually a reflective state from which you view the world and make decisions. My control room is the time I[read more]
How to Increase Your Worth Part 2
In my last Leading Thoughts, I told you about something vitally important that Warren Buffet said. He shocked a great many people when he declared recently that it is possible for nearly everyone to increase their worth by 50%. What did he mean? He explained that most people can increase their value by nearly half simply by doing what he had to do: become a better public speaker. You can read about Mr. Buffett’s statement here. Now, I told you in that last Leading Thoughts that though I was thrilled to hear an eminent person like Warren Buffett say this,[read more]
How to Increase Your Worth Part 1
I want to write to you about an immensely important part of your leadership. I also have to offer an apology. The apology is due because I haven’t addressed this aspect of your skill set enough, and I haven’t done it because it is within a field my firm specializes in. I simply didn’t want to appear self-promoting. I apologize. Now, though, I’m going to hit away and trust you won’t think I’m just advertising in this Leading Thoughts. I’m not. I want to help you. And, yeah, I might tell you a bit about what we do. The reason[read more]
Beverly Mansfield on Leadership
My wife, Beverly, has a big birthday this week. She is, believe me, an amazing woman. I’ve been pondering the wisdom she has given me during our years together, particularly the wisdom that relates to leadership. I want to share some of these insights with you. Then, after you read this, send up a cheer wherever you are for the amazing Beverly Mansfield! The Best Things in Life Are Seasonal Bev has the clearest sense of seasons of anyone I’ve ever known. She celebrates the dawn of seasons by cooking special food. She has friends who call her when something[read more]
The Gift of Goodbye
It’s the holidays. People are feeling warm and friendly. Good cheer is in the air. So I want to talk about saying goodbye! I’m having some fun with this, obviously, and I don’t mean to start your holidays with a heavy Leading Thoughts. I do, though, want to free you from some undue burden that may, one day, come your way. Most leaders are relational people. They draw meaning and significance from those they lead. They want everyone they lead to be content and to be at their side forever. Understandably, then, it is devastating when someone leaves. I’ve watched[read more]
Thanksgiving Meditation
A Thanksgiving Meditation It must have been the most horrifying experience of their lives. Though there were slightly more than a hundred people aboard The Mayflower, only 54 were from the band of Separatists who had lived in Holland the previous twelve years to escape persecution in England. They were farmers and sheepherders for the most part, though some may have been craftsmen of one kind or another. Yet never had they been on the high seas. So it must have seemed as though the very demons of hell were loosed upon them during that fall of 1620. The storms[read more]