[April 17, 2014] Leadership is about having a vision and being able to bring forth the resources (people, money, processes) to see it accomplished. We are always looking for examples of leaders who truly show vision. Richard Branson is that man. Delta Sky Magazine (yes, I fly a lot with Delta so I read their magazine), in their… Read More »
[April 17, 2014] Picture just for the moment, the proverbial drill sergeant screaming into the face of a young recruit. The purpose has always been to “toughen ‘em up” and to “get their full undivided attention.” And of course, that is exactly what it did – both – made them more resilience against stress (mentally stronger) and also… Read More »
[April 16, 2014] The news coming out of Nevada on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) standoff with Cliven Bundy has been rather thin on facts. What we do know is that Mr. Bundy has defied a number of court orders and has twice lost in federal court. We also know that BLM senior leaders made poor decisions… Read More »
[April 14, 2014] Work standards have been a sensitive subject over the past few years because, when applied, the impact on workers is not equal. The federal government has been looking closely at the affect that implementing standards in the workplace have on people; in particular, as the impact applies to identifiable categories like race, gender, ethnicity, etc. … Read More »
[April 12, 2014] Do leaders have a lucky charm? Are leaders just super lucky and therefore pure luck explains why they are leaders? The answers to these questions are obvious to those of us who are leaders. But, there is a large portion of people who believe leaders are successful because of luck – or some form of… Read More »
[April 12, 2014] “Exploring your weakness makes you a good person.” This is one topic that philosophers try to explain how and why that looking at our weak traits can make us better. Leaders, in my opinion, are not interesting in “exploring” ourselves, in particular exploring our weaknesses. What we should be very interesting in doing however is… Read More »
[April 11, 2014] Over the past few days, within the blogosphere, there has been talk about the “intelligence equals education” debate. The debate centers on whether a college degree is a requirement for “higher [political] office,” like President of the United States. The implication we can get from this debate is that leadership probably requires a college degree. … Read More »
[April 11, 2014] They were known as the Brooklyn Mohawks and they were famous as “fearless high-rise construction workers.” As iron workers and riveters, they helped make the New York City skyline in the early 20th Century. As senior leaders know, leadership employs bravery (moral or physical courage). The Iroquois Nation’s culture1 with a “warrior ethic” was a… Read More »
[April 10, 2014] Today we are being told that former IRS official Ms Lois Lerner was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about the targeting of “conservative groups” by the IRS1. Interestingly, we are starting to see more political leaders coming forth asking the IRS to be transparent about what happened. I argued a… Read More »
[April 10, 2014] As my readers know, I spend a significant amount of my time in airports and on planes traveling. There are plenty of times where I am witness to airport workers and flight attendants not serving their customers. This happens all too frequently. Too often, I have watched leaders (and managers) stand by and allow a situation… Read More »