Leading Thoughts Archive

Stephen’s weekly Leading Thoughts newsletters were written from 2015-2022. In the over 300 posts archived here, Stephen shares the “soft skills” of being a good leader in your business, community, and family.

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Next Up: The Great Reckoning and the Great Reset

I have written several Leading Thoughts about The Great Resignation that is besetting leaders today. Workers, young workers in particular, are resigning their current jobs in search of better bosses, better rewards, and better opportunities to use their gifts. They have resigned by the millions in 2021, creating both great upheaval and great promise for businesses. Many of you have been stirred by my descriptions of what is happening and more than a few have asked me what I really believe—“no, really!”—about what is coming. Here goes, down and dirty. I believe The Great Resignation is going to be followed[read more]

November 3rd, 2021|

What are You Intentionally Beholding?

I’m on a bit of a tirade in this Leading Thoughts and I openly admit it. Let me explain. This past week, out of utter frustration with what I’ve seen on screens of late, I tweeted this: “I'm growing weary of movies and television shows in which there's not one character you admire or want to emulate, not one who inspires. It wasn't always this way.” I wrote this because I was both saddened and incensed by the fact that nothing in the TV shows or movies I had seen recently made me better or stirred me to anything noble.[read more]

October 27th, 2021|

Leadership Requires Courage

There is an understanding of leadership I want encourage in you. It is so important, so vital in our time, that you might want to read this when you are alone and have a moment to contemplate it fully. Leadership happens when a leader does what he or she ultimately believes is right for the situation they are in. Science helps, but leadership is not science. Identifying best practices helps, but leadership is not merely the aggregate of best practices. The counsel of others helps, but leadership is not just acting on advice. Ultimately, leadership is a leader doing what[read more]

October 22nd, 2021|

Live Every Day as Though it Were Your Last

One of the principles I base my life on comes from both ancient wisdom and from a line in a movie I loved. It is this: Live every day as though it were your last, for one day you are sure to be right. Now, this is intended to apply to our lives as a whole and to our deaths when they come, but I also believe in applying this maxim to leadership. You see, a good leader says what needs to be said and says it so effectively and consistently that if he or she were suddenly removed from[read more]

October 13th, 2021|

Systematize Listening

We’ve been talking about The Great Resignation in our last two Leading Thoughts. Tens of millions are resigning their jobs and pouring into the American labor market. Why? They’ve been working remotely during the pandemic and this has given them time to contemplate their jobs and what they really want from their work lives. Now, they are making a change. The result? Companies are in upheaval. Bosses are in panic. Whole industries are being upended. All of them are asking what this great mass of resigning humanity really want. This brings us to the core of the matter, to the[read more]

September 15th, 2021|

Have You Overstayed Your Welcome?

I wrote in my last Leading Thoughts of a Great Resignation. I told you that millions of people have resigned their jobs recently and millions more are likely to. Why? They are in search of better bosses, of more meaningful teaming, of deeper social impact and, yes, of greater reward. The good news is that exceptional leaders are now being sought out by the millions of people flooding the job market. They want someone noble and gifted to follow. They want to be part of a vital, empowering culture. The bad news is that industries will be in upheaval and[read more]

September 8th, 2021|

Variants and Masks and Creating a Culture

It is the most important principle of leadership I know and this is why I’ve repeated it so often in these Leading Thoughts. It is simply that leadership is about building a culture. I’m repeating this now because we are about to enter a season in which leaders will need to remember this truth and put it into practice, perhaps more than ever. As you know, we are not where we hoped to be regarding Covid-19. Because of the Delta variant, we are having to talk about masks again and restrictions and lockdowns. Now, my focus here is not on[read more]

August 18th, 2021|

The Skillful Use of Humor

I want to talk to you about humor in this Leading Thoughts and before I do let me make some assurances. No one—and I mean no one—enjoys good natured teasing, smack talk, and friendly verbal tussling like I do. I love locker room banter of the non-nasty type. I love it when people make each other better with teasing and light ribbing. I find the loving smack talk of friends and family to be refreshing and a lightening of the load. I suppose I love all this because I grew up in a military and athlete culture. Feelings were seldom[read more]

August 11th, 2021|

In Search of Legendary

One of my favorite words is “legendary.” Today it means merely something that is famous enough to be celebrated in our time. Yet it comes from the Middle Latin word that meant something worthy to be written down and remembered for generations. I love that idea. Lives and deeds that are worthy to be written down and remembered. People who live in such a way that they inspire generations. Frankly, I want to live like that. I want you to as well. Yet I will tell you frankly that one of the great errors leaders commit is assuming they are[read more]

July 28th, 2021|

Feed Yourself

I want to talk to you about the care and feeding of a leader. By this, of course, I mean you. Leadership is always a taxing role but in the last year or two it has been particularly draining. I don’t want to rehearse our woes. I do want to stir you to accept that your primary tool, weapon, and resource is you. If you don’t know how to take care of yourself—to rest, to reset, to inspire, to re-create yourself—you will diminish as a leader. Let’s talk about some tactics. Get Radical. I’m putting this first for a reason.[read more]

July 21st, 2021|
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