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Part of a leader’s job—a big part—is to define the destination. You can call it the vision, the target, the goal. At a certain point, these terms become almost interchangeable. They are all some version of “This is where we want to go.” Problems can arise, however, when the leader follows “This is where we want to go” with a rigid “And this is how we’re going to get there.”
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Leaders—good leaders, that is—put a lot of thought into the makeup of the various teams for which they’re responsible. They’re very concerned with, as Jim Collins put it, “getting the right people on the bus.” I’ve even written about the 5 people you should have on your team (you can read that post by clicking here). But, what about the size of the team? It turns out, when it comes to teams, size does matter.
David Bowie existed before Ziggy Stardust, but it was Ziggy Stardust that put him on the map. The striking, glam costume; the red hair; the over-the-top Spiders from Mars tour—all these elements, plus, of course, the music, shot David Bowie into stardom. But the glam rock era eventually faded. And if David Bowie had stayed there, he would have been solely of that time, and faded along with it.
All businesses depend on innovation to stay ahead and thrive in an ever-more-competitive landscape, and all innovation begins with a creative idea. But many businesses have set up policies that actually make it harder for people to come up with and/or implement these vital creative ideas. Is yours one of them?
When I was the executive producer of Seattle’s ...
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“In the Spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”
So says Tennyson.
“In December a young (and not-so-young) leader’s fancy somewhat more heavily turns to thoughts of goals for the following year.”
So says Stainton. Although not as poetically. But in order to give yourself the best chance of achieving those goals, you need to make sure you don’t make any of these 5 mistakes.
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.
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“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, ...
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Elite athletes will tell you that much of their physical performance is driven by what they put in their bodies. Elite leaders will tell you that much of their mental performance is driven by what they put in their brains — both through their eyes and their ears. So what do you think they listen to?
I once had dinner ...
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It often seems to me that the world is made up of two kinds of people: the half who are looking for the key to success, and the half who have found the key and are willing to sell it to the first half for four easy payments of just $297 each.
Now, I’m certainly not opposed to anyone making a profit from selling information. I’m especially not opposed to it when that “anyone” is me. That said, I’ve spent years ...
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It seems there are new books on leadership, sales, customer service, and every other topic coming out every day. So how do you decide what you really need to read? It turns out it’s actually pretty basic!
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