All teams have three participants: change agents, change neutrals, and change resistors. The key to leading change is empowering the change agents, influencing the change equivocators, and helping the change resistors understand the WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Here are the critical steps to leading change. First, identify who fits into these categories because…

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At the top of the hierarchy, there are all kinds of leaders from all sorts of backgrounds. But typically in a world of shareholder returns, ROE, ROA, capital ratios, and expense ratios, the corner office is often a numbers expert, usually from the CFO ranks. Is this leadership succession the best thing for an organization?…

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Leadership is not for sissies. Leadership is not about you. Leadership has a price. Let’s diagnose each of these requirements. Leadership is not for sissies – To be an authentic leader takes courage. This courage is realized in many ways. Sometimes it is the courage to do what you don’t want to do, to do…

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My wife shared this speech that was shared with her at a recent meeting of fellow philanthropists. It is worth the read! Adm. McRaven Urges Graduates to Find Courage to Change the World May 16, 2014 The following are the remarks by Naval Adm. William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, at…

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When all parties are agreeable, collaboration is easy. It is when the parties are not agreeable that a leader goes to work. Disagreements can come from many sources and for many reasons, but the key to connecting opposing positions starts with understanding all sides. How can a leader create a collaborative effort when disagreement is…

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Life is great if we had a “life GPS.” You know, “Darn, I missed that exit” followed by an immediate “recalculating” from a calm voice. It didn’t matter how I failed to follow instructions; the beautiful GPS voice kept me from losing sight of my goal and helped me readjust my tactics with that single…

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