“Me? A leader? No way. Not interested.” If you’ve ever entered into this kind of conversation with someone you believe has leadership potential, you’re not alone. According Harvard Business Review, many employees resist enrollment in formal leadership development programs. One of the key take-aways from the research cited is that employees view “leadership” in a…
Leadership Development in Everyday Workplace Situations
When you move on to your next opportunity, who will you leave in your place? Will it be one successor who has been carefully groomed to fill your specific job title? Or will you depart having developed the capabilities of as many people as possible? Wise leaders know that there are abundant leadership development opportunities…
6 Reasons You Might Be Setting a Poor Example for Your Team
Young kids speak the truth, as anyone who’s ever been called out by a preschooler can tell you. I’ll never forget the time my three-year-old son looked at me with his innocent, big brown eyes and said, “Mama, you told me that’s a bad word. How come you just said it?” Nothing shines the light…
Leadership by Ranting is No Way to Inspire People
It’s tough to respect a leader who’s always losing his cool. Case in point: during college, I worked in a family-owned Italian restaurant whose proprietor had a fiery, larger-than-life personality. When he was frustrated, ‘Tony” was prone to emotional outbursts. One day, I received this upbraiding for not setting up the salad bar correctly: “You…
Colleague in Pain? What Leaders Should – and Shouldn’t – Say
We recently marked the one-year anniversary of the global pandemic’s arrival in our country. One constant for the past 12 months has been this: everyone has suffered. In my conversations with clients, it’s become apparent that leaders are often the frontline defense against the growing workplace mental health crisis that’s consumed our nation. When a…