Blog

“Pop-Up Consulting” is a lively forum for dialogue to quickly get at the big issues that keep today’s leaders awake at night

March 23, 2015

Along with two of my colleagues, Mary Jane Braide and Jim Mikell, we have developed a new model for advising senior leaders and their teams on how to problem solve and act on significant opportunities. “Pop-Up Consulting” is a lively forum for dialogue to quickly get at the big issues that keep today’s leaders awake […]

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The Vision thing is over-rated!

March 16, 2015

We tend to make a big fuss over the leader “who has vision”. I agree, it is important to establish a general direction regarding where one thinks one should head, but beyond that, the vision and strategic plan thing is mostly fantasy. Conditions are changing too quickly. We can’t predict the future. We have to […]

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Where to Focus Your Executive Team’s Attention (The Present is as important as the Future)

February 14, 2015

Helping executive leadership teams get results by talking about what matters A CEO invited me to talk with him about how best to leverage his senior team so that it could help him lead the execution of a new strategy. Our discussion eventually settled on one crucial component: meetings.

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Succeeding in a VUCA World

December 9, 2014

(you won’t get there by train, you are going to need a sailboat) VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). VUCA has become reality for most of us. To lead successful and happy lives within that unpredictable, shifting ground, we need to adapt our strategies to this VUCA reality. Ten years ago, during simpler times, when […]

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Good leadership is more than developing leadership skills

October 24, 2014

“A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project onto other people his or her shadow or his or her light. A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what is going on inside him or herself, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.” […]

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Leading with Character Means Business: Doing well through doing good

October 19, 2014

According to the new research from KRW International, leading with character and long term business results go hand in hand.  I will discuss this research in greater detail later in this paper; however I first want to express why it is so critical in today’s societies. Lawrence “Larry” Summers, an American economist who is President […]

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Reconciling Success and Happiness at Work: Matching work requirements to individual motives

September 14, 2014

The Problem “I have no idea why I am working on this.” “This job is not a good fit for me.”  I feel like I am in over my head.  The targets and expectations are just unrealistic.”  “I wish my boss could appreciate the true value I could bring.  I am bored with the level […]

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Setting Personal Developmental Goals …. You Were Intended to Achieve

January 16, 2013

Before you do any further reading, please hold your breath for 20 minutes. A silly proposition, right? You cannot do it for two reasons. One is that holding your breath is simply pointless – it serves no larger purpose that you may have.

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Leading Posthumously: Required Learning for Leading in Complexity

January 16, 2013

It is difficult to find a unique angle on leadership these days, or even a justifiable reason to write about the subject. I would, however, like to try the following on for size: Navigating and guiding an organizational ship through an increasingly turbulent world, demands a leader to lead posthumously.

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Who is Accountable for This?

October 11, 2012

How often have you heard this question? Who in their right mind would answer, “Me”? It always seems to have a punitive, blaming quality to it, doesn’t it?

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