Growing up in the 60′s and 70′s I was utterly fascinated by the US Space Program, and its corps of courageous astronauts. They were my childhood heroes, and I still vividly remember that night in July of 1969 when I ran outside moments after Neil Armstrong uttered that famous “one small step” line and stared …
Someone once asked me to use a single word to describe a “secret to leadership” – without hesitation, I replied, “Relentlessness” If there is one thing I learned in my nearly 25 years in the executive chair, it’s this: Leaders cannot achieve their grand visions and strategies without a relentless push to execute brilliantly. The best way to …
A few weeks ago at Portland State University’s Digital Media Conference, I was challenged to present “9 Ways Social Media Can Make You a Better Leader”, in the “Ignite” format (that’s 20 slides in 5 minutes, each one changing over every 15 seconds, whether you are ready for the change or not). It was a great …
Success is a beautiful thing. We all want it, because it’s the undisputed champion in measuring our professional selves. We know it’s hard to get, and that’s what makes it all the more satisfying. We cherish it, because we know what it’s like to fail (because we all do). So, when it happens, there’s the part of us that …
In September, at SOBCon NW in Portland, I sat down for an interview about Leadership with small biz guru and NY Times bestselling author Carol Roth. In the interview, Carol asked me: 1) What is Leadership? 2) How do you get everyone on the same page? 3) How do you tie individual values to a common business purpose? 4) …
There is always a great benefit to the 365-day calendar – the fact that it restarts at January 1, without fail. It’s an annual window of opportunity for recycling, renewal, rebirth, rejuvenation, rejiggering, retooling, rebooting, and whatever other “re-something” you can think of. I call it the “January Effect”, and you’re darn right that as a leader, …
“The days of leading countries or companies via a one-way conversation are over. The old system of ‘command and control’ — using carrots and sticks — to exert power over people is fast being replaced by ‘connect and collaborate’ — to generate power through people.” - Dov Seidman When I became an executive for the first time …
The other night I thoroughly enjoyed a holiday play at the Portland Repertory Theater, and marveled at the ability of the actors to take on multiple (and quite dissimilar) roles during the course of the production. There was a cool kind of virtuosity on display, and it made me think about how leaders sometimes need to …
Back in 2005, when I was SVP of Operations for a cable television company (Bresnan Communications), I started hearing whispers….. They were telling me things about the business that needed our attention. Things that weren’t working. And things that were working beautifully. They were also telling me about the people that provided our customer service. People who were delighting and …
“To be really great in the little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization” –Harriet Beecher Stowe There are leaders, and then there are LEADERS. The ones that truly inspire, and exemplify the very definition of “lead’ …
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