Recovering Leader

Lance Armstrong's Remedial Lesson in Leadership and Hubris

Lance Armstrong is a case in point about why leaders and public figures need to show us how hubris can be kept in check Read more →

4 Factors To Be an Effective Buyer of Your Next Job

Whether you’re considering an internal move, or enticed by a position elsewhere, once you know you’ve got the right skills and experience, remember that even as you’re “selling” yourself, you’re also buying. As a buyer, here are four things to consider that can make or break your ability to do your best work, and be fulfilled: 1. Buying the Values... Read more →

Leadership Lessons From Recovering Alcoholics

Fear, force, greed, and need are all tried and true ways to lead. Yet none positive or sustainable. When it comes to greatness, and lasting for the long haul, look no further than 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA. Its membership has grown into the tens of millions, fully global (since well before Walmart or even Sears Roebuck, for... Read more →

New: The Recovering Leader Congressional Pledge

Most Congressional Republicans have signed an anti-tax pledge. It's time for a new, constructive pledge—one that puts leadership into politics. Here's the idea... Since 1986 Americans for Tax Reform has “invited” U.S. congress people to sign a pledge they will oppose any and all tax increases for individuals and/or businesses. They will "publicize" those who decide not to sign it,... Read more →

Why Leadership Meant Quitting My Executive Job

I feel a great affinity with those protesting on Wall Street and other business centers right now. When I asked myself why, I remembered a key turning point in my own career: my response eight years ago to the then-shocking dehumanizing corporate behavior that’s become the norm in recent years. I started my business career delivering interoffice mail—yes, rolling around... Read more →

Six Questions to Help You Avoid Protestors at Your Doorstep

I’m puzzled by the puzzlement over the growing protests across America. While the media is stumped at how to cover the early days of a post-conventional, web-era movement, exemplified by the Wall Street "live in," we all know what they’re talking about. As one protester’s sign says, “Dear 1%, We Fell Asleep For A While. Just Woke Up. Sincerely, the... Read more →

How Does Your Organization Impact the Common Good?

My workforce research showed most workers put organizational integrity ahead of financial gain. Yet in the current practice of capitalism, as organizations grow, gaining financial sustainability, influence and impact on society, they tend toward self-protection and self-interest. What's a well-meaning worker to do? When buying a car, or a mattress for that matter, we'd look at Consumer Reports. When taking... Read more →

Leaders: Understand Your Impact

As a leader, it’s important to understand the nature of your impact on the world. For better and worse, you are affecting your people, and, collectively, you are all affecting communities and lives beyond your organization’s walls. No need to wait until some unintended consequence or difficulty makes you take stock of how your leadership is touching the world. Better... Read more →

Goldman Sachs Leadership Lesson in Addiction

What can we learn from our friends at Goldman Sachs? Are they ready to have an epiphany, face their bad acts, and recover? Is Sen. Carl Levin’s committee likely to help propel them toward healing? Okay, well, no and no. Yet maybe we should toast Goldman Sachs anyway. Give them a wink, and tell them we’re here for them whenever... Read more →

LeaderTip: Leadership and Unity

Sustainable leadership requires making the common good your highest priority. “Common good” doesn’t mean consensus—in fact it’s often discovered through intense and candid debate. Develop your own methods of assessing what’s best for your people, organization, clients, and your community, and where those interests intersect. You can “succeed” without doing this, but over time you risk undermining what you intend... Read more →

Layoffs and Human Capital Accounting

Lessons from the Great Recession of 08-09. Many organizations like to say that their people are their most valuable asset. Yet in the real world, and from an accounting perspective, people are viewed as expenses rather than assets. This drives bust and boom cycles of hiring freezes, layoffs, unemployment, and then wasteful rehiring. The truth: you’re my most valuable asset... 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 →