professional development

Learning to listen to ourselves

Resilience and leadership starts with an awareness of self, and gets done with a practice of coaching ourselves when we feel our perceptions taking over. We have to rely on our instincts, but we cannot lead effectively if the people we have to trust feel like we are not listening to them. Here is a coaching example of resilience and building trust.

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Is Your Talent At-Risk? Talent Scorecard – Part 2

Talent management is not about doing the big things, it is about the little things. The little things are conversations, plans, and support that help people feel like a valuable asset. The talent management scorecard helps leaders see how they are doing, and helps leaders develop the focus and skills to help their team perform.

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Do we need a Talent Management Initiative? No . . . Part I

Talent managment is not an initiative, it is about habits. My talent scorecard helps leaders ask themselve “Am I doing all of the important things that my people need”. Leadership development is about helping leaders become skilled at the What of leadership, and this scorecard helps them understand the Why as well as the what.

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Ego and Leadership: My story

Is ego in leaders bad? When we think of ego we too often point to examples where ego has been the destruction of people. Barry Bonds. Bill Clinton. Marion Jones. Richard Nixon. The list could get long. We too often forget that ego is the reason many of these people succeeded in the first place. Ego deserves some exploration.

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Breathing Rate vs Talent Management: What is healthy?

Organizations are run much like our culture – at high speed. Might be fine for getting work done, but what is the impact on how we manage our greatest resource – our people? Look no farther than comparing the breathing rate in Africa vs the United States.

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Can You Hire and Lead the Ignorant?

Is ignorant a bad word? Should we hire the ignorant? The answers are No and Maybe. It takes a special leader to hire the ignorant and sometimes hiring them is a bad idea. It can also be a powerful word for pushing us to grow.

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The truth can hurt, and it can inspire

Followers need leaders that tell them the truth AND help them find the path out if they choose to work through a challenge. Here is a story about telling the truth, leadership, followership, and how it can make a big difference in a life.

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Resilience – What we can learn from the military

Resiliency is a relevant topic for this business environment. It is even more relevant for our soldiers. Here is a quick summary of what the HBR article it was from says and how we might use the information today. Notice the awareness of self piece. It is always there . . . .

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