Image by FreePik The Sinking Raft It was dark. About 12 of us students were seated in a 20-person life raft. It was a sick person who thought 20 adults could actually fit in one of these rafts. Even with only 12 it was a bit crowded. To add a… Read More »Two Lessons from U.S. Air Force Survival School
Image by Freepik It’s often a difficult concept for leaders to grasp – this idea of accountability. What does accountability mean for a leader? Accountability and responsibility are often used synonymously, but there is a subtle, yet critical difference. You are responsible for accomplishing assignments, living within corporate values, or… Read More »How to Create a Culture of Accountability in the Workplace
Many leaders I’ve worked with lead remote teams. Although remote teams became the norm during the covid years, even before then it was becoming very common for teams to be geographically separated across the country and around the world. And even with today’s advanced technology, communicating with remote teams still… Read More »How to Collaborate Effectively if Your Team is Remote
Have you ever said to yourself, ” My boss is clueless?” “What is the boss thinking?” or “Why did they do that?” or “He/she just doesn’t seem to understand.” Do you have to just sit there frustrated, or can you do something about it? Everyone has a boss. Even a… Read More »Help My Boss is Clueless
In the military the acronym GOBI means General Officer Bright Idea and is a usually disparaging term for directed change. Equate General Office to the most senior executives in your company. They usually have many years of experience that leads them to believe that a new direction is a good… Read More »Leadership in Change Management – Part 2
What is the role of leadership in change management? Joe and Jane both led divisions of roughly equal size and responsibility in a large company. The company had recently directed several unpopular changes that were disruptive to both divisions. Joe was having a lot of trouble getting his team to… Read More »Leadership in Change Management
Warning! This article examines commonly accepted principles and you may find it disturbing. If you are unwilling to challenge current orthodoxy, or if you are easily offended, you may want to skip this one. I will not be offended, although I would question your ability to be a good leader.… Read More »Leaders and DEI
Warning: This post may not be politically correct or conform to the current expected narrative. If you are easily offended you may want to skip this one. In a recent leadership development class, a woman expressed frustration that, as a woman, her voice was not always heard or taken seriously.… Read More »The Problem With Categories
When I talk about trust in leadership development workshops, there are always some participants, often many participants who have stories about leaders who they just didn’t trust. That is not surprising but it is a little baffling. How can there be so much distrust in today’s oh-so-enlightened world? It doesn’t… Read More »Does Your Team Trust You?
There is a saying immortalized in the movie Apollo 13 that “Failure is not an option.” Truth is, in any project or operation, failure is always an option. Every. Single. Time. No one likes to fail, but it’s an inevitable part of life. I don’t know who originally said it,… Read More »Failure: The Ever-Present Option