What we usually get from people is what we expect to get. If we expect greatness, we'll get greatness. If we expect mediocrity, we'll get mediocrity.Good leaders expect the BEST from themselves and their staff. Your expectations play a huge role in your own success and they also have a profound effect on the people around you.ATTITUDE - What you expect from your staff … [Read more...]
Summer Reading
What's on your Kindle right now? What books are on your shelf? What are you reading? According to a recent list compiled by Amazon, people in Cambridge, MA buy the most books (print and Kindle) per capita. Check out the list. Does your hometown make the cut? Are you a reader? Leaders are readers. Kevin wrote a great post on Monday about the importance of reading … [Read more...]
Leadership Icons
I'm pretty new to the leadership development world, I'll admit it. I can't remember reading any business books at all (although I am sure I must have during college) until I started writing a leadership blog during the spring of 2009. Since that time, though, I have learned quickly: who's who, the classic books, the key players and influencers in this space. Last week, our team … [Read more...]
Courage: What Makes the Difference?
I’m considering the roots of courage this morning.I listened to an NPR Morning Edition interview with Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who was one of the first two black students to attend the University of Georgia fifty years ago. The story is familiar and reflects the turmoil and bigotry of those times. At one point, Hunter-Gault talks matter-of-factly about bricks being thrown … [Read more...]
Ten Actions for Creating A Learning Organization
Jack Welch said, “An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the greatest competitive advantage.” Continuous learning and its respective implementation to generate desired business outcomes is at the core of successful organizations. Peter Senge defined a learning organization as the one “where people continually expand their … [Read more...]
Supervisor Debacle (Part 2)
In my last blog I shared with you a true story of two employees in conflict and the actual intervention made by their supervisor. In a nutshell, that intervention consisted of the supervisor bringing the two employees together and saying to them, "Okay ladies, go kick and scratch each other's eyes out and get this over with." First, I want to thank all of you who submitted … [Read more...]
Supervisor Debacle (Part 1)
A government employee (A) wrote me recently stating that she has been in a conflict with her coworker (B) for about a month now. I say “conflict,” but according to (A), it was nothing more than a minor misunderstanding…at least at first. Once the problem emerged, (A) noticed that (B) was upset and immediately apologized, explaining the good intentions that were behind her … [Read more...]
How to Be a Great Leader
It's not always easy to be a great leader. While some personality traits naturally bring strong people to the forefront of organizations, leadership skills are a learned quality that must be developed over time and through an abundance of practice. Title or job description does not automatically indicate a person’s leadership abilities. A true leader moves people … [Read more...]
Reading to Learn
Lately, I've been hearing the same message from a lot of smart people. It's a simple one, one you've likely heard before (of course you have.) It's about reading to learn.John Spence, who we featured here as a guest blogger, credits much of his success to the knowledge he gains from reading a couple of hundred business books each year.In his book, Love is the Killer App, Tim … [Read more...]
Leaders – Inspiring Others to Act
With the economic turmoil that started a little over two years ago, coupled with the Madoff scheme, it made me wonder why it happened in the first place and how it could have been avoided. I often wonder how the C level executives and leaders across those enterprises that caused these problems can sleep at night.Having an accounting background, I cannot understand how the … [Read more...]