With nearly 30 years of experience in my rear view mirror, I can best describe the process of successful leadership as somehow getting a giant boulder up, and then over, a steep hill – a boulder not only filled with the accumulated weight of our talents and expectations, but with those of our teammates as …
(Terry’s Note: Hi all – Today I’m introducing a new series of posts, written by guest writer Adam Tenenbaum, called Front Line Leadership. Adam is currently right in the middle of his leadership journey, overseeing a large staff at a very successful retail operation. He also has previous leadership experience at other prominent companies. His …
Imagine the quest for leadership success as an episode of Wheel of Fortune – there’s a puzzle put in front of you, with just a couple of clues on how to solve it. You work your way though a lot of it on your own, but then you get stuck. You can’t do it by yourself …
We don’t get too many opportunities to pause and reflect on how we define ourselves as leaders, and then, more importantly, how that ultimately gets communicated to those we lead. We can either consciously or subconsciously develop a vocabulary that sets the tone, plants the flag, and serves as guideposts for our teammates. If we’re not …
I know you hear this all the time. In fact, its become one of the most overused cliches in the business world. “Hey, let’s all get on the same page” Right up there with “think outside the box” (oh gosh, my mentor used to hate that one….) Leaders are always talking about alignment – that need to get everyone …
I visited the US Post Office today to put a few things in the mail, and as I left, I scanned the large bank of national and local newspaper boxes near the front door. Nearly all of the headlines were economic “downers”. From just about every perspective – jobs, housing, personal income, you name it. These are …
Getting, keeping, and leveraging your confidence as a leader is one of those tricky things that can make us great, or banish us to mediocrity. It’s tricky because there are two ways to build it – with bricks, or with sticks. Confidence built with bricks can withstand the inevitable failures and setbacks, while confidence built with sticks …
Recently I had an opportunity to sit in front of a camera and talk about my personal leadership philosophy (thanks to Yasmin at IamERL.com). I can break it down to just 5 essential elements, but first, take a look at this (it’s a brief one – just 1:46 long): Did you catch the 5 essentials? Here …
“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” “Manner is personality—the outward manifestation of one’s innate character and attitude toward life.” “Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor.” These are all quotes by …
I was 27 when I got a call from an executive search company about a job in Los Angeles. “Would you be interested in the chief operating job for a cable company with 400,000 customers?” Huh? I was an Audit Manager at a public accounting firm. I managed several jobs, and oversaw 5-10 staff accountants, but that was …
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