Is a burned-out CEO the New Normal of the globally connected world? That seems to be the premise of a recent article I read titled, “Death on a Moscow Runway: The Modern, Homeless CEO.” (How’s that for grim imagery?) I take issue with the idea that CEO’s must be this super-human person that “has” to…
Character-based Leadership
When Leaders Should Take a Tough Line
What should a leader do when a team member just doesn’t quite “fit” with the company culture? That’s the question I address in this month’s Smartblog on Leadership article. It really boils down to leadership “tough love” – you can’t make excuses for direct reports who almost adhere to the organization’s values. Smartbrief’s leadership newsletter…
Leadership Decision-Making – Both Science and Art
Making effective decisions is a vital leadership competency. There are many decision-making models that can help create a structure for determining an outcome. But just because you have a systematic model doesn’t mean you’ll choose the best outcome. You need the “art” of decisions as well: the human brain’s unique capacity to imagine, predict and…
15 Essays About Parenting and Leadership
Back before I had kids, I thought I was a really good leader. Maybe I was, but now that I’m 13 years into this parenting thing, there are definitely some additional realizations that have come into my field of vision. Karin Hurt, founder of the blog Let’s Grow Leaders, has also seen the parallels between parenting and great…
Build Employee Engagement through These 8 Daily Actions
How does a leader motivate and engage his staff? As a manager, there are hundreds of opportunities each day to create a workplace that fosters employee creativity, engagement and productivity. When I interviewed Bob Richards, a director-level leader for a Fortune 500 organization about creating positive workplace morale, I got a bonus: a list from…