Recovering Leader

Leadership and Getting Real

It's been said, "No plan ever survives its first contact with reality." Achieving a vision or dream requires a leader to be realistic about plans, expectations, resources, people, and circumstances; pilots call it “situational awareness.” You need a clear, open mind, and a sharp focus. It also means standards and milestones to chart your course—and reasonable expectations about progress. When... Read more →

Need More Time to Think? Try the Delta Project

One of the biggest problems in leadership today: we have a thinking gap. Doing your best work -- be it running your embryonic start up or managing a global organization -- is impossible to do well without a regular practice of stopping to think about things. Seem obvious? Well if you do it -- if you take a daily "time... Read more →

Great Leaders Ask Better Questions

You're paying your people too much to think for them. Guide them to do their own best thinking, and their contributions multiply exponentially. Directive behavior does the opposite ... it shuts people your up, and shuts them down. "Why doesn't she do what I tell her to do?! " This CEO mentioned he was having trouble getting one of his... Read more →

Leadership and Letting Yourself off the Hook

“I know I need to …” indicates a well-meaning person who’s not yet ready to resolve an issue or problem. For example: "I know I tend to be the bottleneck in the process, and need to be more timely about my work." "I know I need to do more relationship-building in the organization." "I know I need to delegate more,... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Worry Management

We all worry about the future at times, and leaders are no exception. Some even hang onto it, believing it to be an effective motivator. Yet the positive results you achieve are in spite of—not because of—the strain and stress of your worries. When you notice yourself doing it, call it for what it is: counterproductive, nagging, self-inflicted negativity about... Read more →

LeaderTip: Informed versus Involved

Understanding the details has never been more critical for effective leadership. Yet it’s important to walk the line between being informed and getting involved. In my coaching practice, I’ve seen many examples of executives confusing command of the details with commanding the troops as to what do to about them. That marginalizes their skills, even as it drains your time... Read more →