I once had a coaching client confide to me that professional development just “wasn’t his thing.” His point: some people don’t see the value in the extra effort required for formalized self-improvement activities at work. This individual was a highly educated, hard-working and effective professional; I wouldn’t characterize him as a slacker. What is an…
Expectations
9 Questions to Help Your Team Create Vision
Think back to the last project you led. How did you begin? Were you successful getting people on board, or was it more challenging than you’d planned? No matter what you’re leading, getting people to line up behind a vision is the first order of business when you take on a new leadership role. Satirist…
The Promise of Leadership
People expect things of you when you become a leader. “When we step into leadership, we may not be aware that it comes with implicit promises in the form of expectations,” says Bob Anderson, co-author of the recently published Mastering Leadership. When I interviewed Anderson in advance of the book’s publication, he shared his perspective…
Don’t Let Those “Best of” Lists Create Employer Envy
Have you ever worked for a company that was listed as “best of?” You know, “Best of XYZ Industry” or “Top 100 Companies to Work for” and so on. No? Well then you might have wondered: just how cool is it to work at one of those companies? Yet another “best of” list came out…
When Leaders Should Demand Extreme Excellence
Daniel Goleman, pioneering researcher of emotional intelligence, recently poked holes in the common leadership refrain of “excellence at all costs.” In the early 2000’s Goleman identified six leadership styles, one of which was the “Pacesetting” style, characterized as a leader who: Sets high standards for performance and models those standards him or herself Has a…