Archive

People like to win — but not “fake” win. Your team wants to work for it. But they don’t want the finish line moved, and they don’t want to kill themselves in the process. Budget should NEVER constrain your ability to celebrate wins. People might be happy to get some free food or gifts out of a […]

For some, shifting into a leader’s mindset is intuitive, something that comes easy. For many others, that shift can take significant time and effort. And be quite humbling. To explain this shift, I use an analogy about running a marathon. If you know me at all, you know that I’m the most non-athletic person you’ll […]

If you’re a corporate adrenaline junkie, urgencies can be a tempting distraction. They can bring instant validation and gratification. The adrenaline high from urgency is invigorating. For a time, anyway. Then it peaks and quickly fatigues people. As leaders, it’s our responsibility to help protect our teams against urgencies by identifying and rewarding the specific […]

It’s well understood that, while we openly talk about structuring one’s time and attention to effectively balance work and private life, if you really want to succeed as a leader, you clock as many hours as you can — be the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave, life balance be damned. Research […]

Building a winning team can be one of your greatest legacies as a leader, but it’s rarely recognised or rewarded in real time. In fact, you’ll likely only get credit for it after the team disbands or you’ve moved on. To accelerate the process of getting the right person into the right role, carefully consider […]

Many leaders love to say yes. But we need to love no much more. Completing 8 for 8 projects is better than completely 8 for 10. Everyone’s bandwidth is different in terms of their capacity to take on and execute their commitments with excellence. If you find yourself in the mess of overcommitting and underdelivering, […]

Habit 5 of FranklinCovey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People explains that “the deepest need of the human soul is to feel understood.” Think of when you’ve been treated with empathy. It feels good to be understood, and it feels extraordinary when someone really “gets you.” Empathy tends to be reciprocal. When we are […]

Leaders who fail to demonstrate humility often find themselves leaning toward arrogance and seeking outside validation. They rarely listen to anyone but themselves, and thus miss opportunities to learn and course-correct. They often turn conversations into a competition and feel the need to “one-up” others and have the final say. When you learn to embrace […]

Many think of leadership as a war of political gamesmanship and cutthroat advancement. Such outdated Machiavellian attitudes have evolved into the desire to build cultures of high transparency, collaboration, and trust. Today, few people want to work in environments of concealment and one-upmanship. Declaring our intent in conversations, especially in adversarial or high-stakes conversations, is […]

Thinking abundantly is essentially the difference between a scarcity mentality (get yours before it’s gone) and an abundance mentality (there’s plenty to go around for everyone). This advice has been shared: “You’ll never have enough until you define how much is enough.” Define “enough,” or you’ll be constantly worried you don’t have it. Make a […]