There is a method to being human, which good leaders implicitly understand and embody. Focus – Choose to look at reality and activate your mind. Think – Make the effort to find the truth. Choose – Judge everything. Commit – Have the courage to initiate and the tenacity to finish. Do it gracefully – Be…
HERE’S a good article: 8 Steps To Create A Powerful Virtual Culture by Cory Michael Blake at the Young Entrepreneur Council, via Forbes. These steps apply to creating a good culture in any organization, not just virtual ones. I especially like point #1, because… * * * * * EVERYBODY is in the business of…
NUMBER 96 on Forbes’ 100 Best Quotes on Leadership reads: “My responsibility is getting all my players playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back.” The author is unknown. I wish they weren’t, because they need a lesson in team management. The goal is not to get…
HERE’S some material to get you thinking about innovation. First, my take. To foster innovation in your organization, here’s a quick & dirty list, (in no particular order), of elements to consider: 1. Employ for diversity. If you want different points of view (and innovation depends on it), you need lots of different ages, cultures,…
In August 1914, Irishman Earnest Shackleton and his crew in the “Endurance” left England on the their “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition“, aiming for Vahsel Bay where a team of six would commence an 1,800 mile crossing of the Antarctic continent. This incredible journey did not come to fruition. By 15th January, 2015 the Endurance was imprisoned…
THE best leaders are self made. They strive to be the best they can be. One of my favorite organizational leaders, John Allison, worked his way up from rank & file employee to CEO of BB&T. In each position he held, he committed himself to being the best possible exemplar of that role. He made…
LEADERSHIP means making decisions. There are a lot of theories on decision-making and many suggested methods for making better ones. We’ll look at some of them in future posts. Before we consider the how-to though, we should consider the why. Decision-making is not just for titled leaders of course; we all face a multitude of…
COMING from a Hospitality background, good customer service is a subject close to my heart. I’ve almost come to dislike the word “service” though, because it connotes a thing that we do, that we provide, that we deliver, rather than an attitude or frame of mind. Worse, it smacks of subordination of service giver to…
THERE are many good posts on why trust is important in leadership, so I’ll not rehash what’s already part of the conversation. I’ll just take it for granted that we agree that no one will follow the lead of someone they do not trust. It’s rather obvious, but I think a reminder won’t hurt: the…
LAST week this post alluded to a critical factor that’s necessary if you want employee engagement. Today’s post is about that factor. During my first “tour” as a manager in China (in 2000), I was often surprised by how bad the customer service was just about everywhere. In department stores, for example, despite there being…
