I got a call a while back from a founding CEO of a growing company. He asked if I would coach him. I liked him from the beginning. He said, “I’ve been an individual performer. But I need to learn to be a leader.” My best coaching clients have been the ones who EAGERLY want … Continued
There’s an absolutely deadly, yet little-known combo that can destroy the prospect of creativity and initiative, on the part of so-called followers. Here’s the math that I shared about — and with – my students, as I began a class on risk-taking on Monday: 50 students x 12 years of pre-college schooling x 180 days … Continued
I was with a client last week and they repeatedly used the word “under-resourced.” If you’re not Google or Twitter, that statement probably applies to you, right? We’re all stretched thin in these days of do-more-with-less. Yet I’ve been blessed by raining-down resources, and perhaps there is relevance for others in the nature of the … Continued
Lord, it would be funny if it weren’t so crazy. How do we nurture everyday leaders? Better start here: Realize it’s a 24-7 job to push back. Cuz if you’re a parent, teacher, CEO, preacher, boss or head of just about anything, they’re going to expect you to take care of just about everything. … Continued
Sometimes your team has looked at a problem that’s been festering, agreed to work on it, and you really hope things will get better. (Or maybe the problem’s been in your church, your marriage, or with your kids.) You hope things will improve. In my consulting an a-ha reveals itself, as clients say: “Wow. We … Continued
My vocal teacher has story after story – starting with her own – of how critics can be to a singer’s esteem, what termites are to a wooden home. A single criticism can devour the mind of self-confidence and easy expression. Singers or not, everyone I know has a story of criticisms planted in their … Continued
Are you, as I am in middle age, drawn to enchanted memories of early years? I can see, even smell certain places I haven’t been in 40 years. So my brother Pat repeatedly says to me, “Danny, we’ve got to go back and play Birmingham [Country Club].” He and I caddied there. We spent hundreds … Continued
Friends, I returned Sunday from the Oregon coast (which by the way struck me as though it was a marvelous cousin to the lands of the Lake Michigan dunes). I was on a retreat with 11 other men looking to renew “meaning in the middle of life.” Ann Ladd and Tim Barraud* who facilitated the … Continued
Friends, On Wednesday, I had one of the most fun times I have ever had presenting to a group. Nate Butki invited me to speak on a panel in L.A. at the Great Places to Work Conference. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re the brains (and the heart) behind Fortune magazine’s January issue which features … Continued
Friends, In Sunday’s New York Times, the great novelist Elmore Leonard (University of Detroit High School, 1943) imagines what his father would say to Elmore’s mother about the current situation at the Vatican: “You see, we’re gonna have two popes at the same time — both infallible — and you don’t think there’s gonna … Continued