Main Squeeze sent me this a few days ago; said it reminded her of me. You see I don’t enjoy organizational politics at all (who does?) and I’ve never been much good at kow-towing. I shared it with my friend and business partner, who wondered if “wolves”, being great at “lone”, might then not be…
When I get time to read again, one of the first books on my list is “Delivering Happiness”, by Zappos founder, Tony Hsieh. Also on that list will be several of the books in the presentation below. Maybe there’s a few here for you too. I’ve only read some of these, so can’t vouch for…
Organizational leadership takes place in one of two contexts. Either… The organization is heading to new heights – it’s a start-up, or an existing organization that’s reached a plateau. It needs a Visionary to take it to new and uncharted territory. Or… The organization is sinking in the depths; in the shit, as it were. …
I’M HAVING A continuing problem with what I call “The Cult of Leadership”. Take five minutes to look around the web and you’ll note how almost all material on leadership focuses on having followers, on leading others, on “influence”. This not only mis-characterizes good leadership, it’s just plain bad advice. You cultivate the attributes of…
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT having “principles”, but few seem to be guided by their principles consistently, because it’s just too easy to make exceptions. The thing is, if you don’t follow your principles in every case, they’re not principles. Understood and accepted as non-violable, your principles become your “rock” – a steadfast guide to action even…
SOME COACHES FOCUS on the players, worrying about them, working to develop them, admonishing them, praising them, and working to get them “on side”. All of that is important, but should never be the leader’s primary focus. The primary is the objective, not the means. The coach needs first and foremost to be driven by…
FURTHER TO POSTS on leadership development (“Why developing leaders is hard…” and “Developing Good Leaders…“), here’s a great slideshow by Steve Dale (@stephendale), on: “… taking responsibility for personal & professional development in order to remain ‘relevant’ in a sometimes chaotic and fast-changing environment” [slideshare id=17012079&style=border:1px solid #CCC;border-width:1px 1px 0;margin-bottom:5px&sc=no] Beyond wanting to “remain relevant”,…
In response to the post from a few days ago, “Why developing leaders is hard and the two most powerful ways to go about it“, Kurt Häusler (@Kurt_Haeusler) commented: “Both assume good leadership is already in place, nearby and available. It also encourages emulation over improvement.”. [If you’ve not read the post already, maybe take a…
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, which fundamentally is the improvement in an individual’s ability to take the lead and in their people skills, must start from, and be driven by, the learner. Leadership is an individual endeavor. Not solitary, but individual. This is one of the reasons leadership development programs are so often a waste of time and…
THERE IS A lot of leadership advice out there. Hundreds of books, thousands of websites; some helpful, most not. Much of it ignores fundamentals; instead offering adhoc, graft-on, band-aid, random, and arbitrary “solutions” with no foundation, little context and no integration. How are you supposed to remember, internalize, and successfully use “The 21 Immutable Laws…
