Taking a Moment to Review Your Relationships
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash “Books are meant to be read from beginning to end, but they are best understood from end to beginning.” - from the 2016 film Mr. Church. Like books, situations can be better understood when looking at them in reverse. Some divisions...
A New Lens for Foundational Leadership
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Beware of the way things have always been done, they can hide a great deal of creativity. Working with law enforcement I was enthralled when a civilian who works for a Sheriff’s Office referred to the deputy level of the...
When Being “Right” Can be Quite Wrong
There is a great scene in the show Friends where Phoebe and Ross are having an argument about evolution. Ross spends most of the episode attempting to convince Phoebe that Evolution is true. By the end, exasperated by his incessant demand that he be right and convince...
Disagreement Is a Path Toward Insight
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash Let’s stick with this disagreement theme a little longer because it’s rooted in a core Leadership truth. Leaders often fear disagreement for any number of reasons; it takes time, they know better, insecurity, some simply need to be...
Giving Your Team Time for Criticism
Photo by Andrea Natali on UnsplashPreviously we talked about the importance of building a safe environment for your team to feel comfortable disagreeing with you. Here’s the thing: creating an environment where your employees are comfortable telling you “no,” and one...
Workplace Ego & You
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash Problems with leadership often boil down to issues of fear: fear of humiliation, fear of mistakes, fears of perception, fear of weakness, fear of incompetence, fear of failure…and these fears can dictate how we lead and respond to...
Building Blocks & Primary Colors Aren’t The Goal
Photo by Denise Johnson on Unsplash We are called as leaders, as people, as the species at the top of the food chain, to ask bigger questions. We're called to move beyond the basic instinct of survival and self-preservation into something larger than ourselves. We're...
Creating an Atmosphere for Positive Criticism
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash “I am the first to admit when I’m wrong,” a company owner boldly and proudly exclaimed, “I am even eager to admit when I am wrong.” I laughed spontaneously, before I had a chance to control it, and then quickly apologized. “Yeah, but,...
Delicious Meals And Superior Problem Solving
Photo by Tucker Good on UnsplashThe issue with solving big problems, say market share or racism, is we tend to think we need to solve them with one big fix. We often discount ideas when they aren’t the entire solution — more of an “all or nothing” approach. But...
Everything You Want is on the Other Side of Fear
Photo by M.T ElGassier on Unsplash The Core Values Index teaches us that we drop into our negative conflict strategies out of fear. A lot of what we do, or more accurately don’t do, is rooted in fear. It is seemingly always the obstacle we have to overcome. I can hear...
