At the beginning of every class, I literally throw Kudos to students. (Tragically M&M Mars is discontinuing the not-so-tasty food bar, so I’m open to suggestions of new prize tosses.) I especially look for new insights or for people going outside the safety zones that invisibly hold them in. Last week I asked (again): Do … Continued
Last week I started teaching my undergraduate leadership course. I gave all the students a blue 3×5 index card and a gold one. “Write a blue card if something made you feel the blues in here,” I told them, “and a gold if something made you feel golden.” Over the course of seven semesters one message … Continued
I begin today’s brief blog in a plane at 36,997 feet above the earth, specifically above Yellow Knife, Northwest Territories. I’m mesmerized by the dynamic map on the monitor in front of me. It’s made up of shades of: greens, blues, browns, and a lot of white; white because we flew over the “top” of … Continued
Back in the day (about 5th grade, as I recall, yet heading forward towards high school), we spent a lot of time putting other people down. Sometimes it was public. Most times it was when you were walking to school, from a game, or milling around at a dance, and somebody’s name came up. One … Continued
My friend Miss Take – the professor of the school of lessons-from-experience — taught me a good one again this week. It was a “dad mistake,” but reminiscent of “boss mistakes” I’ve seen and boss mistakes I’ve made. In short, I forgot that central authority figures speak with a megaphone, even when they think they’re … Continued
In 1985 When Ron Heifetz taught me about “systems thinking,” I realized that leaders have a scary power to inadvertently use group power to ignore, blame or even punish victims, and marginalize the most outspoken for raising difficult issues — issues which the group could benefit greatly from addressing. I thought: As a leader I … Continued
I have never enjoyed reading the work of people who write like they know everything. I have always resisted following people who acted like they were superior. Because I don’t trust people with big egos. I suspect you’re similar and share two secrets for managing these problematic people. We think of people who have big … Continued
“Vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage. To be vulnerable, to let ourselves be seen [is] incredibly, incredibly difficult.” – Brene Brown* I share with you today what for me is a grand, wonderful and scary-as-all-get-out experiment. I see it as a petrie dish for examining authority, leadership and empowerment. You may tell me, … Continued
Someone once told me: The two most important words in the English language are “after you.” Can we reconcile this lovely thought with our rigid notion of “the leader,” a word and concept, which quite literally describes the one in front? Yes! Because in great leadership we follow others, as is appropriate to the situation. … Continued
I’m giving myself a two week vacation. I hope at some point(s) this summer you will also be a leader on vacation. I briefly reflect today on what that might mean, as I prepare myself for vaca (and then take next Monday off RFL entirely)! I was reminded last week of the roots of the … Continued