I Can’t Make Just Anyone Into A Leader
As a leadership coach I have to admit a secret: I can’t make anyone a leader. But the reason may not be what you're thinking. There’s an old expression that says you can’t make chicken soup out of chicken poop (although it traditionally uses a different four letter...
Authenticity: Not Permission to Be A Jerk
Fair enough. But isn’t it just fake and inauthentic to pretend you’re happy or cheerful when in fact--you don’t feel that way? Last week I talked about how we all have the power to choose our perspective, every day. We can all choose how we are going to interact...
Life Is Like A Bowl Of…
Ah, gotcha! No, not cherries. That would basically be a bowl full of sameness. Instead, life is like a bowl of possibilities! Perhaps they look like marbles, each one a different size, color, and design--no two alike. This is the bowl of life, and each marble...
Leaders Hear the Quietest Voices
Do you? In the midst of all the noise around you, the demands, the suggestions, the responsibilities, the bags you are left holding...can you, like Horton, hear the Who? It's one of the biggest challenges we have as leaders. I call it Inertia. We get caught up in the...
3 Lessons From Teachers for Business Managers
How many times have you heard it said: "Schools need to be run more like a business!?" What if businesses were run more like a classroom? After all, leading in a classroom and leading in a workplace, as it turns out, have some remarkable similarities. Now, don't get...
The Power of Unplugging
Do you have any of those lessons in your life that you know to be absolutely true? You support it with all your heart and you know that it is exactly how you want to behave--but there is no [blankin'] way to get it done? Yeah, me, too. I have about 30 of them. Last...
Getting Rid of Stress: An Exercise
Sometimes we can get so weighed down by the stress in our lives, we can't see a way out. It traps us, overwhelms us, and throws us off our game. If you are facing that gremlin called stress, try this simple exercise--it's one of my favorites! Get a pad of post-its and...
Is It All In Your Head?
A few years ago I had a client who was lamenting the fact that she was a procrastinator. She always put things off until the last minute, and she wanted to change that. "For instance, in college," she said, "I would constantly pull all-nighters just to get...
What We Can Learn from Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart, renowned comedian and host of The Daily Show, retired a couple weeks ago. No matter what you think of his style, his work, or his sense of humor, one thing is certainly true: Jon Stewart was a Superboss. In a striking article for the Harvard Business...
The Value Of Persistence (According to Coolidge)
Too often one's belief in their ability to lead is rooted in some external need--whether or not they have the talent or 'genius' for it. It's not rooted in that at all. Leadership is rooted in your commitment to see yourself as a leader and the persistence to keep...
