Helping Leaders Flourish
I don’t just coach CEOs. I own or co-own some small businesses as well. In a couple of them I am instituting a framework called Think/Plan/Do. I’m convinced that every successful business and organization devotes time and energy to each of these three activities: Think—How might we _________? Plan—What’s the […]
Leadership has an inner and outer dimension. Being a leader means both managing yourself and leading others. Most leaders usually excel at one—some excel at neither. But to be a sustainable and successful leader, you have to learn to excel at both. Like most either/or, both/and spectrums, most leaders usually […]
I’ve become convinced that most people handle failure much better than they handle success. Failure can make a man, and success can ruin a man. I’ve seen it in the lives of the business leaders with whom I’ve worked. I’ve seen it in politicians. I’ve seen it in athletes, in […]
In one of the most famous episodes of I Love Lucy (for the youngsters: a groundbreaking early TV sitcom), Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a candy factory. After failing in several departments, they are given one final chance: to wrap the chocolates lined atop a conveyor belt. As the […]
Micromanagement comes naturally at a start-up. You know this if you’re a founder. You micromanage either because you’re the only employee or because every detail feels so important to get right. But then the business grows. And you’re no longer a one-man band. You realize that you’re not going to […]
Some storms brew on the horizon. We can see them coming and we have time to maneuver. Other storms just drop out of the sky suddenly like a raging tornado, wreaking havoc on anything in its path. The storms of the heart are no different. But make no mistake about […]
Do the lyrics of the following song make you think of anyone in particular? “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble/ When you’re perfect in every way./ I can’t wait to look in the mirror/ ’Cause I get better-looking each day.” Mac Davis wrote the original version of “It’s Hard to […]
Some people see everything in black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. Others see an ocean of gray with nothing really ever firmly planted on one side or the other. I actually believe the better idea is something in the middle of both polar positions. To be honest, […]
There are two key parallel undertakings to every organization’s viability: Creating future opportunity and delivering on yesterday’s promises. One focuses forward; the other keeps a watch backwards. One is about the windshield; the other is about the rearview mirror. Most people’s tendency is to be either a visionary or a […]
As an old cowboy once said, “You can’t ride two horses at the same time.” Sometimes we just have to choose between options and live with the outcome. This reality is very true when it comes to setting the organizing principle for any enterprise. You can’t be headed north and […]