Recovering Leader

It Takes Sponsorship to Make a Leader

It takes a village to make a leader -- many helping hands. A mentor gives you advice, while a sponsor will pound the table on your behalf, expending their political capital to help you get to your next step. Read more →

6 Reasons We Hang on to Marginal People, and What to Do About it

Recognizing and addressing your pattern of holding on to a low-performing person helps your organization, and is the right thing to do. Read more →

Leadership: Loving and Leaving the Chronically Marginal

Most leaders eventually have a chronically low or marginal contributor among their team. While avoidance and rationalization in such situations are quite common, they simply amplify the problem. In my experience as a leader and executive coach, clarity, compassion, and consequences are the keys to skillful handling of persistently problematic performance: CLARITY that you expect their best on an ongoing... Read more →

Leadership and Complexity: Think Like a Child

Leadership requires the simplest thinking and actions when facing the most complex dilemmas. In fact, imagine a four year old facing your most pressing business or organizational issue. It would be worth it if they did. Wielding the sensibility of a young, inquiring mind (the average four year old asks 450 questions per day) is a canny and refreshing way... Read more →

Making a Smooth Transition from Peer to Leader

Promotion from peer to leader is a common thing, yet can be a problem for some. It's often a feeling of apprehension about what now-former peers may think, what's "supposed to be different" now that you're in charge, etc. So here are six considerations in making this transition smoothly: 1. Determine Your Point B “Must-haves:” Carve out a period of... Read more →

7 Leadership Strengths Are Weaknesses When Taken Too Far

Consider a few of the typical strengths a leader may have: maybe they're a good delegator, a great relationship-builder, results-oriented, decisive, etc. Interestingly, our strengths become weaknesses when we overuse or misapply them to the situation. That's why I often hear my clients' colleagues say, "It's his strength, but also weakness at times..." So it's important to know which of... Read more →

Are You a Manager or a Leader: Complete Analysis of Survey Results (Final)

In June, 2009 we started taking a sharp look at the distinctions between manager and leader. I developed a 20-question online survey (“Are you more of a manager or leader?”) that's so far received 139 responses. Given the volume of info, I broke my analysis into several blog posts that cover all 20 questions. Previous posts had analyzed the results... Read more →

Stuck in D2D? Leadership: Be Present About the Future

Our recent leadership survey showed a startling 35% of "leaders" spend the majority of their time on day-to-day tasks and issues. Are they victims of current world economic crises? Sarbanes-Oxley mandates? I don’t think so. They’re not victims … they’re volunteers. Your attention is your choice, not a mandate. Let’s think about it. Imagine you’re captaining an ocean-liner. Now let’s... Read more →

What is Self-aware Leadership, and Why Should You Care?

It leads to sustainable effectiveness . . . Today's tumultuous conditions require leaders to master speed, turbulence, and complexity, upgrading from traditional leadership competencies to new and more flexible strategies for leading organizations. Building greater self-awareness must be a high priority. Self-awareness is not a common theme in leadership literature, and the practices that lead to it aren’t easy to... Read more →