Recovering Leader

Monday LeaderTip: Learning Leadership

Demands, decisions and the desire for results set the day-to-day agenda for many leaders. Yet it’s very helpful to step out of that “do-loop” from time to time, to take stock of your own leadership. Without making this a practice, negative habits and routines can build up in your blind spot, getting in the way of your ability to learn... Read more →

About the Recovering Leader

Welcome to the Recovering Leader, designed to help you achieve your goals as a leader, by sharing what works for others with similar questions and challenges. Here you'll find almost 700 posts spanning practical experiences over almost two decades of coaching other senior executives and emerging leaders, which followed a career as a fintech executive, and my coach training at... Read more →

Business Profits Radio Interview

Here's a radio interview I did last week on coaching and small business with Robert Skrob's "Business Profits Radio." The show is entitled "Breaking Through From Struggle to Success." Download BPR-Peck-Interview-5-18-09 David Peck Executive Coach and President Leadership Unleashed Read more →

Opinion: Today California Distinguished Itself as Leader in Discrimination

In a 6 to 1 decision, the California Supreme court—the same one that decided a year ago that a state law confining marriage to a union between man and woman was discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation—upheld Proposition 8. This proposition bans the state from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The California Supreme Court exercised leadership in discriminatory... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Time Off

Time off is not a luxury—it's a necessity of leadership. As the weeks click by, it's easy to catch ourselves thinking that a restful vacation would be a "nice-to-have," that whatever we are doing is too important to leave, or that time off during this economy may threaten job security. So be it. Absent the perspective gained from disconnection and... Read more →

Sunday Leadership Confession: If You See It, You Be It

It's Sunday, and I have a confession to make: everything I observe about others, leadership, and/or the world—every tip, suggestion, or "insight" I make highlights something I myself need to learn. In that way, I have to say I'm quite the serial hypocrite. It can be an "ouch" to realize that whatever you notice, particularly if you feel strongly about... Read more →

Self-aware Leadership Article

Many thanks to Leadership Excellence for publishing my article: Self-aware Leadership: It leads to sustainable effectiveness, in their June, 2009 Issue. Download Peck LE Article 6-2009 David Peck Read more →

OpEd: Applying Leadership Principles to Afghanistan

Many thanks to the Christian Science Monitor for publishing my OpEd piece in today's paper: -- "Are We Winning or Losing in Afghanistan?" http://bit.ly/XlyIT David Peck Read more →

Success is Only One Measure of Leadership

Business leaders are used to defining measures for success. Doing so at the beginning of a venture is best. Yet a great success definition falls short of illuminating the spectrum of outcomes leaders must consider. In fact, it’s every bit as helpful to define what mediocrity and failure might look like. That way, you know the positive – and negative... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Feelings Inform Leadership

In the past, awareness of your feelings was not considered a leadership strength. After all, work was work, and the rest was just the touchy-feely stuff, right? Today, experience and research into high-performing leadership tells us that emotions are involved in every decision we make, regardless of how we may try to tune them out. Being at your best actually... Read more →

Self-aware Leadership Watch: Is Your Ego Your Amigo?

Fundamentally, a healthy ego is a good thing. It serves a simple and vital function: to keep us separated from each other in our own thinking. Without it, there’d be no sense of self versus other, and I’d have no way of telling myself from you. However, a mismanaged ego can be anything from a minor liability to majorly overbearing.... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Realism

Realism in the face of difficulties is a leadership asset. Yet most of us fall into denial at times, which can offer short term "relief," even while prolonging our problems. With a deliberate effort, you can clean up any avoidance of your own, and help others do the same. Take a look at any lingering difficulties, and you are likely... Read more →

Financial Firms Need 'Nutrition Labels'

With the "bank testing," and the results thereof, being done by the Federal government in recent weeks, I want to remind folks of an OpEd I published in the Christian Science Monitor (no affiliation with the religion--they've been kind enough to publish a number of my pieces) on this topc. Financial Firms Need 'Nutrition Labels' was published last October, and... Read more →

The 1-2-3 of Using Self-awareness to Resolve Conflict

Whether you're dealing with someone difficult, resolving a conflict, or simply broadening your perspective, here are practical approaches and practices to help you be at your best. Make sure you read down to the simple exercises, and try them! It boils down to this: the more you make yourself look through another person's eyes, even if you can't stand them,... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Leadership and Mistakes

Acknowledging your mistakes strengthens your ability to lead. It allows your people to appreciate that you’re human too. In fact, your vulnerability actually inspires them to work harder and be more engaged. Those who deny, gloss over, or shift blame for their mistakes simply have a hard time maintaining credibility among those they lead. There’s far too much of that... Read more →

13 Things You Should Know About Company Culture / Organizational Culture

Choreographing, or at least dancing in step with your organization’s "culture" is critical to leadership. Move well with it, and it enables you to get great things done. Buck it, or be victimized by it, and it can be your downfall. What do I mean by "culture?" There are many definitions, but I think of it as the unspoken yet... Read more →