Leadership

For a leader, feedback from the team is a wonderful thing – that is, if it’s the RIGHT kind of feedback. We all have our ways of soliciting it, gathering it, or cajoling it out of our teammates.    Because after all, without it, we’re most likely taking our #leadership shots completely in the dark. Not a good …

I remember the first time I became a leader. I was in eighth grade, and we were in the middle of tryouts for the upcoming middle-school football season.   The previous year I had languished as an unhappy (and very ineffective) left guard, and the team had been winless the past two years – in fact, because …

What does it take to be a successful leader in the 21st Century? This is a question that has already filled the “Management/Leadership” shelves in the local (and virtual) bookstores many times over – and we’re only 12 years into this century.   Chances are you’ve read one, two, or more of these books looking for answers …

Like many others here in Portland I’ve been increasing my consumption of a certain vegetable – one that has magical powers. “It’s a superfood!”, the stores proclaim.   Low calorie, low fat, high in essential vitamins and minerals, etc, etc, etc…. That’s all good, quite good in fact, but there’s one big problem with it. It doesn’t taste very …

“We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.” – Sherry Turkle We are living in an extraordinary era where digital communications has revolutionized the way we live, work, and play. For those of us old enough to remember a world without “devices” or “portables”, …

For every person that can help you on your way to business (and personal) success, there are many more that can do just the opposite – serve as big barriers that make the task that much more challenging. There are three people in particular that you need to be wary of, because you WILL encounter them …

“Success Covers a Multitude of Blunders”. That was a famous quote from George Bernard Shaw, and it has always stuck with me throughout my career as a leader and executive. What it ultimately told me was yes, I was going to fail – multiple times. But if I was truly determined to overcome, or “cover” them, I …

Leadership should never be “comfortable”. The leadership pool should never be tranquil. Waves are good. The great leader understands this, especially when it comes to managing a staff to successful outcomes. There’s a balancing act that needs to take place, between two ends of what I call the “Management Spectrum”. One end is the “Touchy Feely” side (aka Praise …