The most wonderful thing – about being human is you get to choose what you want. Yet, it’s hard. It’s so much easier to be told what to want, or to have habits take over, or to jump to doing whatever seems like it should be done next. In the hyper-busyness that is characteristic of … Continued
Authors create characters. Back in 1982, when I was entirely smitten with the work of novelist Walker Percy, I wrote him a letter to tell him that his writing was so good that I felt his characters were more real than people I met in my life. (If you enjoy character novels, try Percy’s Love in … Continued
Leaders are supposed to be STRONG, right? Look up strong on Google and click on “images.” Here’s the first of many similar images: One thing is obvious, right? The figure to the left is a GUY! There are other images on the Google search. More bulging boy biceps. You’ll also see near the top, the … Continued
“Assume more power when situations are stagnant…” Nate Medina, UC Berkeley, ’18 I am submerged in final papers. Berkeley juniors and seniors pull together their thoughts after a semester’s course on leadership. The papers marry their personal experience leading with the theoretical concepts they have gathered from lectures and readings. Their reflections are universally … Continued
“Leaders go first.” A tautology? In a sense yes, because it’s definitional that leaders stand apart. But my friends Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge stand this “going first” on its head. They don’t mean “goes first” because he or she is brimming with confidence, bravely blazing a trail that no one else can … Continued
While preparing for an upcoming series of classes and speeches, I pulled up my “Definitions” of leadership file. Here are two: “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” … Continued
I’ve been thinking about routine and ritual a lot. The older I get the more I seem to appreciate how deeply we humans crave them and how important they are for those of us who lead teams, families, communities. I wonder about your rituals. We began the 8:00 AM Mass yesterday with Jesus Christ is Risen Today. … Continued
What would it be? The most meaningful award you can imagine? I used to hope for a MacArthur Fellowship. I guess that’s not to be, i.e., I’m just not a genius. Darn. I covet another award, but in a superstitious way, maybe, I can’t say it out loud. But I’ve been pondering: Why does that … Continued
Last week’s Read2Lead post promised to tell you “how to take a leap forward in leadership effectiveness.” In the post, I was reveling in how I had received specific coaching from a student. His feedback was entirely new to me and thus promised me – and I think it is delivering – behavior that will … Continued
I sincerely believe I am going to leap forward in my teaching-leadership this week, because I got a great gift a week ago. The context for the gift was my sending students an email last weekend. In it, I told them that I was seeking a few individuals who would take turns offering me coaching … Continued