May I jumpstart your Thanksgiving week? I enjoin you to lead those around you to Give Thanks. As Kouzes & Posner wrote, and I have many times shared, “only challenge produces the opportunity for greatness.” 2020 has been a non-stop challenge. This week we can stop – we have that capacity – to see all the … Continued
Has the smoke cleared? Are the hurricanes gone?Has the virus stopped spreading?Could we be on the eve of the “peaceful transition [or continuation] of power?”As kids playing hide-and-seek, and as Londoners asked after German air raids: “Can we come out now?” 2020 has been the year of primal fear. And the year in which so … Continued
First, the backstory. I had back-to-back meetings last week with a client I’ve been consulting to and another I’m coaching. On a group Zoom call, a team member was about 8 minutes late. The firm’s culture is friendly, respectful and transparent, so it wasn’t a big deal for him to say that his 2-year-old had … Continued
Five weeks ago, I started writing about leadership strategies during pre-election Scary Season. That was before RBG passed, before the debate debacle, and before the President’s sickness. With the year 2020 that just keeps coming, and with Trump’s penchant for creating drama-that-sells, it would be crazy to think that crazy is done happening. Seat belts … Continued
This is the third in a series on leading in these scary times – with Covid, economic pressure, BLM and the reaction(s) to it, the election, and now the loss of RBG. I think it’s one of my best. I know it’s one of my longest :-(. I hope you’ll find the time to give … Continued
I used to think of this 60-day lead-up to the election as Silly Season. Now it feels like Scary Season. In the coming series of Read2Lead blogs we will offer ideas and practices to lead through the fear. We need leaders – you, leading with your best self – now more than ever. Systems are … Continued
Heifetz would drive people crazy, when… He would p-a-u-s-e Uncomfortably L O N G 1…..2…..3 seconds. You could almost hear the students’ collective unconscious crying out, “for God’s sakes, man, teach!” I’m speaking of Ronald Heifetz, the King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, whose content … Continued
Gentle leadership. It’s not an oxymoron. Nor is this a contradiction in terms: self leadership. So, today a simple musing after these two facts. 1. When you are stressed and stretched, it is nearly impossible to “lead with your best self.” 2. In this time of severe dislocation, fear, and challenge, everyone I know is … Continued
Last week, I wrote about how in-your-face Covid has been for all of us. Not equally, of course. Some of your families may be right now threatened by the disease itself. Yet it confronts us all. Last week, I invited you to hear Anne Zehren our Thursday resilience speaker. Anne has dealt for a decade … Continued
The exhausting challenge. The amazing opportunity. Resilience . . . Plus . . . At no time in my 60 years of life in America, has our collective life so totally invaded my, and our, private existence. The events, threats, and responses to Covid strike at our individual identity, our “who I am.” We are … Continued