Back in the day, I worked for an office furniture manufacturer. At the time, the open office plan developed by Robert Propst was in full swing. The benefits were many: more collaboration between different departments, increase innovation and a lower cost of capital expenditure. In many aspects, the tweaking of “who sits where” is a…
How Narrow Is Your Company’s Definition of Leadership?
It’s cool when you realize that one of your projects was ahead of its time. A couple of years ago, when our book The Character-Based Leader was in progress, the authors (all 21 of us!) had vigorous debates about the definition of “leadership”. Many felt that leading with character was less about one’s job title…
Who Runs a Better Department – Those Who Meet or Those Who Don’t?
You hear the most interesting things on an airplane. There I was, making my way back home after a week of business travel. I was shoe-horned into a packed flight on a Boeing 737, listening to a group of three guys seated behind me talking about their workplace. (Yeah, I was eavesdropping. It’s nearly impossible…
26 Tips for How Leaders Can Use Vision and Values
How can leaders articulate and live their values at the workplace? And, how do values tie into the vision a leader creates for his or her team? Karin Hurt of the Let’s Grow Leaders blog has assembled 26 varying thoughts as answers to those questions from leadership experts around the globe. Check out Expert Advice…
The Musicality of Leaders and Teams
Have you ever considered that leadership has a musicality to it? My latest Smartblog on Leadership article explores how successful leadership messages contain the three key elements of music. It occurs to me that you could also look at teams through the “musicality” filter. Melody – the key theme for the team; its purpose Harmony…