Recovering Leader

Monday’s LeaderTip: Develop a Failure Standard

A leader will typically work hard to achieve a successful outcome, and recognize it when it happens. Yet it’s also critical to set up a measurement for when to stop investing in someone or something. Lacking such a failure standard, we are informed mainly by opinions and hopes, which can lead us to make choices that drain vital resources for... Read more →

Leaders Need More Quality Time With Workers

Leaders need to set regular meeting times with their workers and make sure the time is spent well: here are eleven steps they can take to make that time highly productive and rewarding. In my experience, less than 50% of leaders hold regular meetings with those reporting to them. An absence of meaningful conversation between boss and worker creates distance,... Read more →

Leadership and Negative Self-Talk

Notice how you talk to yourself in a negative way, and it will fade away. For the purposes of this post, I use ‘Gremlin’ as shorthand for self-critic / self-doubt / negative or undermining self-talk. We all have at least several different types of distinct gremlins. I've classified what I see as nine common types of gremlins, using the Enneagram... Read more →

Monday's LeaderTip: Bridging the Candor Gap

Avoiding candor -- quite common in organizational cultures -- is a barrier to sustainable success. Flattering, people-pleasing or avoiding overt conflict are among the ways people tend to gloss over the truth in order to get ahead, or simply get along. Yet research shows an organization or team is much more effective when its people are expected to be very... Read more →

New Lessons on Leadership and Self-Awareness

Many not-so-coincidental events lately have awakened me to the fact that successful leaders who want something more -- who want to grow as human beings and leaders at the same time -- know that self-awareness will help them achieve their goals. Synchronicity finally grabbed my attention over the last two weeks, during which time all of the following events took... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Adaptive Leadership

Leaders today are facing an unspoken mandate to become more adaptable. The accelerating interdependency of global markets, natural resource demands, and competition all challenge leaders to use traditional competencies in new ways. Outstanding decisions must make sense locally and on a global scale, while in a state of constant change. Now, more than ever, adaptive leadership requires a sharper focus... Read more →

Leadership Failure Newsbytes – From Iraq to Imus

Failing upward After being nominated by President Bush, former Deputy Defense Secretary, and Iraq War co-architect Paul Wolfowitz was elected by the board of the World Bank in 2005 as its new president. In the two years since then he has managed to alienate his board, offend many employees, and cut off aid to a number of countries without consulting... Read more →

Lee Iacocca on Leadership: Great Rant!

In his new book, Where Have All The Leaders Gone?, Mr. I (yes, there's no "I" in "team") starts with: "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over... Read more →

Working With Meaning

Are leaders who enjoy their work the lucky ones, or do they make better choices? Human nature is to feel a bit of envy for those who do work they love. The majority of us were taught that work isn’t meant to be fun—it’s supposed to be hard or stressful. In fact, we are meant to feel lucky just to... Read more →

Monday's LeaderTip: The Power of Inaction

Leaders tend to operate in a constant state of action. In the results-driven workplace, we win by multitasking and juggling priorities. After enough time living and working this way, the relationship between what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and where we’re headed can get blurred. When deeper questions like these begin to present themselves, you need to take a... Read more →

Notes on a Meditation Retreat

I spent the day today at Spirit Rock in Marin, meditating with a group led by Jack Kornfield. Trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, and having taught meditation worldwide since 1974, his wisdom and guidance are full of humor and clarity. After the nine hour day there, I felt a sense of quiet and peace within... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Remove Your Mask

Maturing as a leader involves removing masks that interfere with authenticity. Whether a "game face" during tough times, or a "poker face" when confronting uncertainty, well-intended disguises are rampant in the work world. This is particularly common with newer leaders, who often feign confidence when navigating new territory or encountering difficult situations. But hiding from others saps your own strength,... Read more →

Leadership Case Study: Listening and the CEO Stuck on Transmit

We've all sat next to the person on the plane whose transmitter is stuck in the "on" position -- they talk at you the whole flight, telling you about their victories and challenges as if you had asked a deeply probing question. Whether they do this because they are nervous, or feel the need to take a social hostage whom... Read more →