Most people have no idea who Mordechai was. Yet, if you are in a leadership position, or a consultant to leaders, he is your professional ancestor. He facilitated important organizational change in 600 BC, improved and saved lives, enabled a significant promotion of someone, and was instrumental in the firing of a corrupt senior leader. His story reads like an overly dramatic version of my work life, and probably yours.
Mordechai is a character in the biblical story of Purim. Purim is a Jewish holiday this weekend that celebrates the success of Esther and Mordechai. I am not a Rabbi,… Read the full article >
Love is as important in the executive suite as in the bedroom suite. Love simply means having deep affection. It means caring. Why wouldn’t you have deep affection for people you spend most of your waking hours with, who share with you the challenge and joys of overcoming obstacles, and whose success means your success? More to the point of leadership – if you, the leader, doesn’t care about the team, why should the team care about you, your goals and your priorities?
So how do you show you care, you really care, and do it in the business… Read the full article >
Tom Brady played every play in Super Bowl LI like the previous. With calm confidence. It didn’t matter what the score was. It didn’t matter if they were down 21–3 at halftime or moving towards a tie at 28–20 in the 4th quarter. There was the same emotional tenor all the time. In the huddles and on the field. They were playing the game, play by play. No upset, no excitement. Just playing the game. This was not an accident. This was by design. This is the design of Tom Brady, whose emotional leadership created a team ready to… Read the full article >
Forget everything you have read about succeeding in a new leadership position. Forget about making the first 100 days a success. Forget about having the right team in place – that is not what is going to make you succeed. Forget about leveraging all that you know from your time in the industry.
Christopher Mikkelsen – Founder and CEO, Refugees United
Forget all that because executive… Read the full article >
2016 was the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Leaders can learn a lot about how to create a year with a “happy ending” from Shakespeare.
What does it really take for a leader to create a happily ever after at work? Is it even possible?
If there is no problem, then there is no story!
Tragedy or comedy, a good story always has a problem to overcome. What makes Romeo and Juliet… Read the full article >
Employees in business yearn for transparency. They say that it’s a leadership requirement. Yet being open about what’s really going on is not realistic. Transparency does not and will not ever exist in executive suites around the globe. Here’s why.
There will always be pockets of transparency. For example, a friend of mine runs a successful technology business with 40 employees and has completely open books. He shares all financial information with all employees every two weeks, including… Read the full article >
One of the reasons our mind gets fooled with optical illusions, like the picture below, is that there is a .1-second delay between seeing an object and your brain being able to decipher it. While that seems like a short time, it is enough time for your brain to fill in the blanks with what it thinks it sees. Even if it is not really there.
Many leaders do the same thing with their… Read the full article >
