This past week I was visiting my mother in central Illinois. While we were there, my wife and I drove Mom out to the cemetery to plant fresh flowers on Dad’s grave. Dad has been gone now for several years but not so long that the grave doesn’t seem new… Read More »Memorial Day, more than just a 3-day weekend
A good leadership skills training program provides many techniques for your leadership development. But., there is one important point thought that is often missed – you must take time for yourself. Take time to smell the roses. After many years of hard work Jack was offered a very coveted position, one for… Read More »Leadership Skills Training – Take Time to Smell the Roses
Team building is a critical aspect of your leadership development. The most effective leaders know how to develop a high-performing, cohesive team. All leaders want “rock stars” on the team and there is plenty of advice available about how to hire the “right” people. That’s great. I’m all for building… Read More »Leadership Development: Team Building and Rock Stars
“I’m not sure about that new guy. He doesn’t seem to be fitting in and doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. Why’d you hire him?†Ever have someone walk into your office and say something like this? Ever find yourself wondering why a new person on the team isn’t fitting… Read More »Leadership 101: Team Dynamics and the New Hire
Why is Abraham Lincoln one of, if not the most revered U.S. President? Lincoln exhibited leadership like few politicians before or since and we can still benefit from his example. Here are a few leadership lessons from Abraham Lincoln that are still applicable today. Make friends of your enemies. Lincoln… Read More »Leadership Lessons From Abraham Lincoln
Leadership, motivation, and employee engagement are among the most discussed subjects in business these days. Various studies are available indicating a large portion of the workforce is not engaged and there seems to be no end to suggestions for how to motivate people. I’ve created this brief employee engagement survey… Read More »An Employee Engagement Survey
Employee coaching is a critical element of your leadership development. Good coaching is a key to effective team development, but it can be a difficult skill to master. Here’s an example of an employee coaching session that did not go well. … Read More »Is Your Employee Coaching Effective or Are You Just Talking?
O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! Robert Burns Improving leadership communication is a critical part of your leadership development. One way to be more effective is to understand what we don’t hear. With apologies to Robert Burns, we also don’t hear ourselves as… Read More »Leadership Communication: Did They Hear What You Really Meant
By Perry J. Martini, Ph.D. Most of us have fond memories of the fairy tales we read (or that were read to us) as children. They were entertaining, often times humorous, but without our knowing taught us important lessons for later life. One of the most universally read fairy tales… Read More »Why Set Goals?
Early in my leadership career, I was at a dinner with about 100 other Air Force officers. The speaker that evening was Colonel Mal Wakin, a long-serving professor at the Air Force Academy. The subject was ethics. Col Wakin presented an interesting question. There had been a cheating scandal at… Read More »Leadership Development: The Importance of Trust