Recovering Leader

Monday’s LeaderTip: Core Purpose

A leader is at his or her best when in sync with their “core purpose.” Depending on your beliefs, this could be what you are best or most talented at doing, or what you were meant to do in this life. Clarity about your purpose guides you through peaceful and turbulent times—and it also reduces the stress and anxiety of... Read more →

Obama's Rise: Leader Needed — Managers Need Not Apply

Obama's surge over Clinton in the presidential primaries is a great reminder that when times are tough, a leader, and not a manager, is what people want and need. Those who know her say Hillary is very, very smart. If I had had $10,000 to buy a seat at that 'business luncheon' with her last year in San Francisco, I... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Human Approach

Organizations of all sizes are faced with fierce marketplace pressures. Leaders try to get their people to do more, while available resources are scaled back in the name of productivity and financial belt-tightening. As a result, many places are becoming “burnout organizations” where workers feel more like office equipment than human beings. To avoid this, ask yourself how you might... Read more →

Ethical Leadership: Make the World a Better Place

My work as an executive coach has me working with leaders constantly. I can’t help but notice that they have a wide variety of reasons for doing what they do. When asked, they tell me things like this: “My job as a leader is to motivate people,” or “I’m here to tell people what to do and how to do... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Advice That Fits

Leaders often take advice from well informed, experienced, and/or brilliant people. After all, they can be quite compelling, as they seem to “know better” or “know more.” When following such advice backfires on us, we can find ourselves second-guessing our decision to listen to them in the first place. So when the stakes are high, it’s critical to balance their... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: When a Leader Manages

A leader’s job is usually to guide others toward a vision of a greater tomorrow. Yet when things are going poorly in the “here and now,” a good leader moves to manager mode, and tackles the practical head on. It’s critical to take a no holds barred look at your people, one by one, starting with yourself: Are they in... Read more →