Let’s be honest. Most leaders possess a sense of drama. This is good. It helps us inspire people, put on effective events, and even communicate well. Yet there is a kind of drama we can lean to which only works against us. Let me explain. We all like to be [read more]
The traditional transaction between a worker and an employer is: “You work and I’ll pay you.” Yet the wise leader understands that he or she can expand that transaction and not only make their firm a greater success but also change lives. Let me tell you about a bakery owner [read more]
I want to talk to you about integrity in your leadership, but in order to hit my target I need to rework what the word integrity means. Let me do this by quoting a paragraph from Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men. The army of ancient Rome used this word [integrity] [read more]
Let me push into your interior in this Leading Thoughts. Let me probe around in your soul a bit and drive you to greater wholeness. In other words, let me talk to you a bit about your inner life as a leader. To keep this clear and focused, I’m going [read more]
Let me describe a way that leaders can feel about their firms and you see if this is you. You love your firm and the people in it. Perhaps you started it or perhaps you came in later, but you grew it to a dramatically larger concern. You’ve invested years [read more]
There is a goal that many leaders are declaring these days. It sounds noble. It has an air of purpose and meaning about it. But it is actually a goal that is death to great leadership. Let’s confront this together. The goal I’m talking about is “surviving.” I have had [read more]
It was once said of President Gerald Ford that with his kindness and forgiving ways he “sucked the poisons” of Watergate out of the country. You may not agree but hold on to this phrase “suck the poisons out,” because this is what great leaders do. There is a type [read more]
I’ve always found it encouraging that Mark Twain once told a friend, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” He was making a point speakers and writers know well. It is that brevity is best, but it is harder. It takes [read more]
There is a condition of heart that is defining the difference between success and failure in our current crises. Let me explore it with you. You know that I deal with the “soft factors” of leadership in these Leading Thoughts. You have plenty of sources for the more technical things [read more]
I read a story this past week that reinforced an important lesson of leadership. Let me tell you that story and then help us all incorporate this lesson into our lives. Probably since your early school days, you’ve heard the story of Rosa Parks, the courageous African-American lady who refused [read more]