There is no “I” in leadership, well sometimes…

There are two kinds of leadership; leading from the front and leading from the back. Let me define the two. Leading from the front is the most often seen because it is the apparent demonstration of leadership. Leading from the front is essential in situations that require a strong vision, direction, or action. It is…

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3 Steps to Finding the Right CEO

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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Leading with Good Intentions

A coworker does something we don’t understand or agree with, what do we do? We write a story in our head. We create scenarios on what we think the intentions of this person were. We create a story with little real evidence, only perception, “intuition,” or assumption. Typically these stories are negative. Usually, these perceptions…

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Meetings Leadership for Effectiveness and Efficiency

Often leadership is fraught with perils, and timing is everything. A successful meeting requires the following: An agenda Time management Quality discourse Conflict resolution Defined next steps with firm deadlines Since a leader’s schedule is heavily weighted with meetings, knowing meeting skills can make the difference between walking out of a session frustrated, feeling like…

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Managing your Boss – Risky Business

One of the toughest jobs a leader can take on is leading horizontally and leading up. Leading without authority or the power of title is a critical skill that all great leaders have learned. Even a CEO has to, at times, lead the board of directors or the Chairperson needs to lead shareholders. To develop…

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You have to be an Executive to be a Leader – NOT!

A collective leadership misperception is that it happens to you as a result of a promotion. Sadly, many executives foster this climate of “ordained leadership” by acting as though they, as executives, are smarter than the masses and are therefore more worthy of making a decision. This culture stifles individual contribution, engagement, job satisfaction, and…

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Work-Life Balance is a Myth

Wouldn’t it be nice if our lives were compartmentalized into neat little boxes? This box is for work; this box is for play, this box is for friends, this box is for the family – you get the point. However, life doesn’t work this way. Life is a giant mash-up of all of these parts,…

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