In your leadership, how do you seek influence? Through strength? Or warmth? Research continues to mount that leading with warmth is the more effective leadership strategy. Warmth builds trust. Trust allows people to let their guard down. They’re open to the new, rather than defending the old. Warmth promotes effective communication and connection. Warmth shows … Read more
Culture is the fishbowl in which your company swims: it’s invisible, but impacts everything. Company culture is a combination of beliefs and behaviors, and is best defined as “how we do things around here”. As an external leadership consultant, I get invited to come and swim in different fishbowls every week. Sometimes the swim is … Read more
Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time with new leaders who want to hone their “executive presence”. They want to be perceived as confident and competent. They want to put forth their ideas with clarity and energy. In our time together, they’ve had the opportunity to design and present their ideas in a … Read more
In The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner write: Credibility is the foundation of leadership. If you doubt the messenger, you doubt the message. Last week, I was leading an intensive workshop for a company in the professional services industry. I’m helping their consultants to become more effective communicators. Over the multi-day training, the consultants … Read more
Why are these kids smiling? I should know–they’re my kids. Alexander and Miranda posed for this photo last Wednesday, right before they got on their bikes to ride off to the first day of school.They were really excited. Usually a request for their picture provokes eye rolls and mad faces. Not on Wednesday. … Read more
Names matter. You need look no further than the controversy raging around yesterday’s decision by President Obama to change the name of Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. Obama’s signed an order to rename it Denali, which the mountain has been called by the native peoples of Alaska who have lived in its shadow for generations. For … Read more
I’ll admit it: I like to be right. When I’m right, my ego glows with satisfaction. I love the feeling of closure when the two sides of my hypothesis turn out to match. Growing up, I thrived on being a good student and achieving high grades. Being right: what’s not to like?It turns out that … Read more
Marketing Author Seth Godin has defined a brand as: The set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If someone chooses to work with you instead of choosing someone else, that choice represents the power of your personal brand: your reputation. … Read more
Success. It’s often defined as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose”. Deciding what to aim at is a deeply personal experience. Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People wrote: “If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find … Read more
In 2013, two infants died at my local hospital. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts did a thorough investigation into the causes of the deaths. They determined that communications within the hospital was a major factor. Specifically, the hospital’s culture had been hobbled with a “hint and hope” style of communication.You know hint and hope, don’t you? … Read more
