One of the greatest benefits a long-term leader can bring to his or her organization is their experience. The experienced leader has seen it all before. The experienced leader isn’t likely to get fazed by the bump in the road. The experienced leader is the face of calm in the midst of the storm.
But the experienced leader can also be missing the boat—and with it, opportunities.
Posted by:
“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom” – Gen. George S. Patton.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” – Abraham Lincoln.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
Great leaders have said some great things. But not everything that comes out of a leader’s mouth is pure gold. Sometimes leaders say things that are—let’s be honest here—pretty dumb. Unfortunately, ...
Continue Reading →Posted by:
Smart people are lazy. (No, not all smart people. I understand that you are different. It’s the others.) Now, this can be a good thing, which is why Bill Gates once said, “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job…because he will find an easy way to do it.” But it can also be a bad thing, because there are few things sadder than unfulfilled potential.
You’ve probably heard the idiom, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” or some version of it. I’m not sure what the documentation is regarding the plans of mice; I’m not entirely convinced that they’re really “planners.” But I can certainly vouch for the best-laid plans of men—and women! I’ve had my share of best-laid plans go awry, and I’m guessing you have too. So what do you do when that happens?
Posted by:
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I used to write monolog jokes for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. One day after the show I happened to be sitting with Jay (no doubt having pizza; with Jay, it’s always pizza), and the conversation turned to fame. Specifically, the double-edged sword that is fame. At one ...
Posted by:
“Failure is NOT an option!” Have you heard this? There’s only one problem. It’s almost never true.
Continue Reading →Posted by:
Today we’re going to talk about two fast-food restaurant chains. They both serve similar products, but one makes way more money than the other. Let’s see if you can guess which one is the big winner:
Restaurant Chain #1:
[unordered_list style=”tick”]Restaurant Chain #2:[unordered_list style=”red-x”]
Posted by:
I’m currently reading a fascinating new book by Megan McArdle called The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success. In it, she argues that failure is vital to success, partially because it’s only through making ...
Posted by:
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal talks about leadership and creativity (one of my favorite topics, and the focus of my keynote program The Emmy Effect: How to Develop and Lead Award Winning Talent and Teams). In the article, author Justin Brady says:
[quote]Most leaders talk about creativity (or its cousin, innovation) without understanding what it is and how it happens. The process of real creativity is messy, chaotic, sometimes even disgusting, and ... Continue Reading →Posted by:
