Category Archives: Leadership

From self-belief to self-direction

 In a sense, leaders are in the empowerment business. If you lead a team, you should spend a great deal of your time doing things that empower them. Why? Because people consistently underestimate their capacity to make things happen. They … Continue reading

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Knowing people

 Leaders and managers have to become better students of people and of human nature. We spend our time understanding processes and things rather than on understanding people. ‘People’ is obviously a big subject, but you can narrow it down and … Continue reading

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Effective leadership requires mental training

Lots of professionals use mental training – athletes, surgeons, military personnel, and so on. The idea is to put you in control of your thoughts and feelings. From there, you manage your behaviors – and eventually your destiny. Mental control requires … Continue reading

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Shakespeare in war

Wherever your mind goes, the rest of you follows. Shakespeare knew this, and so, apparently did Henry 5th. He crushes the French at Agincourt, despite being absurdly outnumbered and ill-prepared. His rousing, “Once more into the breach” passage is one of … Continue reading

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Lead like a novelist

 I once attended a lecture on how to write a novel. They woman said something like, “Your work must introduce the reader to a world of flesh and blood characters, individuals who face daunting obstacles. These characters should grow from … Continue reading

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The nature of leadership

 If you’re struggling to simplify your life, a quick search can uncover a world of insights, links, people, and solutions. This ability to connect into communities with shared needs and interests means that we get to learn about ourselves in hyper efficient ways that were never possible in … Continue reading

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Leadership is for rejects

Leadership evolved out of the things that management rejected. 50 years ago, there were no ‘leaders’ in business. There were ‘administrators’ in gray suits (as in Masters in Business Administration) who spent their time on paperwork and what we would now identify as management.  But the … Continue reading

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Leadership as mining

 As a manager, your job is to manage the material resources of your organization – inventory, cash, facilities. As a leader, your job is to manage its psychological resources, aka, the people. But as Ken Robinson pointed out (somewhere), inner … Continue reading

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Why we need new leadership

 I don’t know of a single institution that isn’t under the threat of massive trauma or even annihilation. From the Catholic church to the US economic order, from the welfare state to the corporation, it’s all rattling. The old centers … Continue reading

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Huffington’s leadership challenge

This article on on the recent AOL/HuffPo merger describes the leadership challenge facing Huffington and her team. If the author is correct she’s not up to it. First, it seems she has recklessly agreed to take on AOL tasks and responsibilities … Continue reading

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