Are there any positive leadership stories out there anymore? Anyone? Anyone? Sometimes, I feel like Ben Stein’s economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, casting about for any story that sheds a positive light on the ability to lead with character. In the last week alone, I’ve personally heard three stories of leadership failure: …
Workplace Dynamics
Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries
Earlier this week I presented a session on Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries to the Western Michigan chapter of the Project Management Institute. The session was so well-received that many people asked for copies of the Power Point presentation. Well, you know how that goes—a Power Point without the corresponding speaker commentary is a bit flat….
Tag-Team Workplace Coaching
Sometimes, a person’s boss just isn’t the right person to do the coaching. Consider this story, as told to me by my client Pete: Pete was part of a new product ideation team tasked with creating a proposal for the company president. On the day of Big Presentation to the president Liz, the team gathered…
Creativity is a Vital Skill for Leaders
The following post is written by Erin Palmer, a recent college graduate. When she contacted me to ask if she could write a guest post on creativity and leadership, I was thrilled because of her point of view: that of the follower, not the formal leader. Please read on to find out what this young,…
What Type of Angry Boss Are You?
My kid came home the other day and showed me some artwork that he drew while waiting for his classmates to finish their math tests. He drew a series of random dots, connected them and then created a cartoon out the resulting shape. His first shape resembled an angry person screaming so he labeled it…