[January 08, 2014] Cyrus the Great (also known as Cyrus II of Persia) lived 500 years before Christ, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, and is one of the greatest leaders in all of humankind’s history. The fact that stories of his leadership exploits have survived this long is testament to the strength of his character and… Read More »
[January 07, 2014] There is no person who is unaware that culture influences leadership and the outcome of the mission. Those influences affect leadership in powerful ways and often in ways we do not readily see. In the context of outstanding leadership, awareness of those dimensions of influence can be helpful. For a leader, having knowledge of and… Read More »
[January 06, 2014] Many people say that great leadership is possible because those leaders possess extraordinary intelligence. While there are those who are not in full agreement with this view, being intelligent certainly makes leadership easier. Normally people think of intelligence as cognitive intelligence; intelligence measured in the form of technical skills, a first-rate memory, and high IQ. … Read More »
[January 05, 2014] A hot topic of conversation today is anything to do with politics and issues of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, etc. Name any issue and inject into it one of these political hot buttons, then step back and be prepared for some emotionally-charge opinions. Being a leader means dealing with these politically charged topics… Read More »
[January 04, 2014] All great leaders study leadership. They make it part of their routine to ensure that they understand and seek to improve their leadership skills and knowledge. When the seasoned executive leader’s mind is adequately mature and has obtained sufficient awareness to understand, only then does the leader have the true capacity of senior leadership. Otherwise,… Read More »
[January 03, 2014] Early last year I had the opportunity in a group of senior executives to meet with the Secretary of Defense (aka SecDef) at the Pentagon. There was a lively discussion about what was important for the United States (a guns versus butter talk) where the SecDef listed the President’s top priorities. Most of the discussion… Read More »
[January 02, 2014] My goal was to provide at least 10 “senior executive leadership” – non-commercial websites – those that are dedicated exclusively to senior leaders and worth reading. Finding basic leadership sites was easy but finding them dedicated to “senior leadership” was another matter. Unfortunately, there are simply very few free and open senior leader websites –… Read More »
[January 02, 2014] There has been a long-standing debate whether there is a link between employee happiness, their pay at work, and workplace productivity. While few would deny that these are related, the key argument is whether better worker pay leads directly to improved performance. A recent article in Inc Magazine by Scott Leibs1, entitled You Can Buy… Read More »
[January 01, 2014] Reading is a habit that all the best leaders have developed over their lifetimes and like any habit, it can be changed for better or worse. What I wanted to do here is add a few thoughts on my year of reading in 2013. Many of my favorite books on history, were not include in… Read More »
[January 01, 2014] Most New Year’s Resolutions fail – up to 90% don’t make it. There are naysayers who declare that it is best to ignore the tradition and do not make a resolution because “it will fail anyway.” For leaders, however, this is quite different. Leaders should make resolutions … promises to themselves to improve their leader… Read More »