Carol Dweck a long-time Stanford psychologist burst onto the scene with Mindset: The New Psychology of Success at the end of 2007. It’s been around for a long while, it will be around for a much longer while, and I finally got around to reading it. I think it is THE simplest yet possibly THE … Continued
(I am interpreting, fairly I hope, an incident that happened this past Thursday night. For insight from one of the principals, you can watch a Detroit Free Press interview here.) It usually starts bad. Often, really bad. Like this past Thursday: Two guys come up behind my friend as he’s walking towards his door. We’re … Continued
The dress to the left has become the hottest mess in the west. While to many it certainly appears to be gold and white, to others it’s blue and black. Really. I mean, really. You may think this is a joke, because you so clearly see blue and black. Or you may think this is … Continued
Today’s approach to “leading with our best self,” is entirely practical. Biologically so. In January I began my fourth semester of teaching “Holistic Leadership” to law, public policy and other graduate students at UC Berkeley. With the three prior runs, I have struggled to find my rhythm. I’ve poured over feedback. I even met with one … Continued
I have been signing-off Reading for Leading for 15 years with the line “lead with your best self.” What do I mean by that? And, more importantly, what do you take from it? Here is perhaps the acid test of leading with your best self. A story. I moved back to Detroit when I was … Continued
Last week I wrote about one of the key lessons I am learning from The Sweet Spot by Dr. Christine Carter. You’ll recall that the point of her book — subtitled How to Find Your Groove at Work and Home — is to help her readers to understand current brain research in order to work … Continued
When my awesome 84-year old mom routinely answers my question, “How are you, Mom?” by saying, “I’m just so busy.” And when my friend’s YPO (Young Presidents Organization) group is holding a retreat on dealing with “the rat race,” I think, “Whoa! We’re all stretching, stressing, striving, spinning the hamster wheel. And ready to . … Continued
Last week, I suggested that you take YOUR route to annual goal-setting. Maybe your verb is to “hope,” or “intend” or a “commit” to those goals. Robert Fritz, whose work I greatly admire,* balked at my offering of verbs. He argued that I missed the most important verb, to CHOOSE your goals. And he offered … Continued
I have arrogantly written my first law of leadership. In honor of ancient languages like Hebrew and Arabic, my law reads “backwards.” Because to do something backwards requires intention and focus. Thus, Mulhern’s First Law of Leadership: tfeL oTthgiR morF knihT syawlA or, for ease: Always Think From Right to Left. Our animal instinct is … Continued
You can make the same shift as 99 students of whom I am greatly proud. They inspire me to make the same choice that I commend to you today. They chose to improve, rather than to prove. I’ve had a 100 undergrads this semester. I required that they take the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (360), … Continued