Four things to remember when leadership feels hard.
Four things to remember when leadership feels hard. Leading – whether in your family, your team, community, or company – is like life: it’s hard at times. When you decide to step up and stand for something, you open yourself up to be attacked, dismissed, criticized, silenced, and sometimes even assassinated. It is not uncommon […]
Does the word accountability have a positive or negative association for you?
Throughout my career, accountability has been a central focus of my research and teaching. Here are ten things I’ve learned about accountability: Accountability is the ability to be counted on. Never make a promise you don’t intend to keep, and when you make a promise keep it, whether you feel like it or not. Think […]
Fears, Trust, And the Human Experience
When our daughters were much younger, we went on a family “adventure” to the Fantasyland Hotel in West Edmonton Mall and took in a ride in the submarine. After boarding, the hatch closed, and as we “descended,” the guide began safety instructions. The moment she said, “if any of you get claustrophobic…” I immediately started […]
Making Authenticity Real – A Leadership Checklist
A lot of research ( e.g. Harvard Business Review and Leadership & Organization Development Journal) shows that employees’ perception of authentic leadership is the strongest predictor of job satisfaction and can have a positive impact on work-related attitudes. Most employees believe authenticity in the workplace leads to better relationships with colleagues, higher levels of trust, […]
Four things to remember when leadership feels hard.
Leading – whether in your family, your team, community, or company – is like life: it’s hard at times. When you decide to step up and stand for something, you open yourself up to be attacked, dismissed, criticized, silenced, and sometimes even assassinated. It is not uncommon to bear the scars from your efforts. Leaders […]
I grew up when the work ethic was so strong that talking to others and enjoying yourself at work meant you were wasting time.
Friendships in the workplace were seen as distractions. But recent Gallup data indicates that having a best friend at work actually improves employee performance and motivation and is strongly linked to business outcomes, including profitability, safety, inventory control and retention. Employees who have a best friend at work are significantly more likely to engage customers […]
Boundaries and Bravery
Boundaries are healthy and important, but can the idea of a boundary give us an easy out and prevent us from being brave and stretching ourselves? Years ago, in a family counselling session, parents were complaining that their 25-year-old son living in their basement wasn’t employed or contributing to the family in any way. The […]
How To Inspire People Through Basic Human Goodness
John Coltrane, the American jazz saxophonist and composer, once said that to be a better artist you have to be a better person. He could have been talking about leadership. We understand that leadership is too important to be diminished to techniques or titles. Leadership is about the character and integrity of a person. It’s […]
The Call To Citizenship
In the very early months of WWII, my father excitedly rushed to enlist at the first opportunity. However, upon the discovery of his poor eyesight, he was declined. Unable to go to war, he returned to his work as a youth leader on the inner streets in Calgary. Forty-five years later, if asked about being […]
Have you considered what impact your actions make?
It has been said that the true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. Not long ago I received an email from a childhood friend who was in my boy scout troop when I was a teenager. My father had been our scout leader, and in […]
