Today’s RFL is a “best of” edition. I feel as strongly as the day I wrote it. I was just talking to a good friend and his 9th grade son, and while “pops” was distracted by another conversation, I asked the younger: “Who’s the leader in your house — your mom or your dad?” His … Continued
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
Who’s your favorite modern President? Was it their temperament or politics or a stand they took? Or was it some other yardstick you’d use to measure them? They all present one massive truth about leadership. Oh, my gosh, it’s hard and thankless. Here, compliments of the great Wikipedia/Gallup are their highs, lows and average approval … Continued
Last week, I noted that any leadership problem that’s worth its salt will have emotion bursting through it. Whether that problem’s a “rebellious teenager,” the Israelis and Palestinians, employee layoffs, or controversial strategy. I asked your thoughts about what a leader should do with emotion, and there were some great comments from Cathy Raines, Mick McKellar, Norma … Continued
A “Reading for Leading” reader — I’ll call her Ann — pushed back in a private email to me. She wrote these two paragraphs: In a future newsletter, you may want to distinguish between rules to be broken and those that should be honored. To me, the first are ones imposed without consent (English taxes … Continued
Longtime readers of Reading for Leading know that I tell (perhaps way too many) stories from my own experiences leading. Specifically, leading in the place that matters most to me — leading my children. I take consolation in the fact that I try to be transparent, especially about my missed opportunities and humbling shortfalls. But this one … Continued
For the moment the furor has died down. NFL players who abused their girl friends, spouses or children have been rightly suspended. For the moment my furor has died down. Once again last week I said things to one of my family members I wished I hadn’t said. The individual reciprocated. I reacted with defensive … 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
“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