Dan has been writing Read2Lead weekly since March 1, 2000. Twenty years! A new era of Read2Lead begins today, with Dan’s partner Laura Andersen, weighing in. She will now periodically contribute, as they lead by two! The topic is right on point. In a recent post, Dan described his experience speaking to students as their … Continued
[If you are fed up with politics, I think you, especially, should read this, but I certainly understand if you don’t. For my part, I think we need to keep speaking and listening, and not falling into all the same divisive traps. If we are connected, you may have read an earlier version of this … Continued
When I say “leader,” you likely see a speaker. You likely see someone separated from the crowd, perhaps facing them. That was me in my lecture last week to 80 non-MBA graduate school students. But add a couple elements to the picture. Before I began speaking, I asked for a couple volunteers to take careful … Continued
Over 20-plus years of teaching and coaching leadership, I have increasingly come to love and strive for simplicity. And today I offer three tools that a leader always has at their disposal. . Aim the telescope. The telescope points to destination or, in leadership lingo, vision. Help people see clearly through it to where we … Continued
Vic Granholm, my wife’s dad died on Tuesday past, January 21, 2020. His body was cremated, and he was memorialized at church. In many traditions,* the soul leaves the body at death, yet remains for a time. What’s next – whether an after-life, in heaven, in the body of some newborn creature, or not … Continued
“Bias creeps into you as a child without your permission, like the cold on a wet foggy day.” Where I grew up, “we” was a weird and sloppy mess. We lived in Inkster, Michigan; about 35,000 of us. (We knew people called us Stinkster, but we called their towns of Garden City and Westland – … Continued
I’ve been away from writing for a month. I return: back to basics with two stories and an invite. On Wednesday, Jennifer and I found ourselves on a bucket list hike to the top of Machu Picchu in Peru. Our guide, Marcilino has led over 500 hikes of a day or four-days length. He’s had … Continued
With two weeks to go in the year, most of us face the choice of getting IMPORTANT things done . . . or not. The “not” result can easily happen when on the one hand we feel pressure(d), and on the other we feel a mix of “there’s just no way to get it all … Continued
What would you say is the #1 leadership characteristic? Not necessarily what will gain recognition from others, but what you should focus upon to achieve greatness? And in particular what would you focus on NOW – in the waning days of November? For me, the answer is easy: Perseverance. In January, I’d say: do the … Continued
Ron Heifetz writes that “attention is the currency of leadership.” And Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner say, “credibility is the currency of leadership.” I agree with my friends and mentors that leaders pay attention and they build up their credibility for when they’ll need to spend it down. But perhaps “courage” is the golden currency … Continued