JEKA AND THE POWER OF ONE: How Ordinary People Can Make An Extraordinary Difference
Not all of us can do great things. What we can do is small things with great love. – Mother Teresa For more than twenty years, Jeka was my ticket agent […]
Balancing Work And Rest: Be Productive by Making Time To Be Unproductive
My good friend, Fr. Max Oliva, a Jesuit priest and author of several books, has an MBA and leads retreats and ethics seminars for parishes and business professionals across the USA and Canada. Years ago, I asked him “How do you renew yourself in the midst of such busy and full life?” “To be productive, […]
Achieving Engagement From Productivity
I’m concerned about the focus these days on employee engagement as if it were some kind of “special thing” to be pursued outside the usual day-to-day operations of a workplace. Engagement isn’t a goal to be sought. Rather, it’s an outcome of good leadership. The goal should be a well-run organization. The best run organizations […]
Are You A Wall Maker or a Bridge Builder?
Our power went out this morning. Two seconds after I turned the light on in our kitchen everything went black – and quiet. It’s amazing how much noise caused by electricity there is in a house. We were in the dark for about four hours. In the big scheme of things, compared to hurricanes, fires, […]
Employee Engagement: Is it Really The Boss’s Responsibility?
I grew up in a day and age well before “employee engagement”. I had five different jobs before I finished my university education: I worked on farms and ranches, survey crews, a cement company, a geriatrics unit in a psychiatric hospital, and as a janitor. I learned a lot in those jobs. I learned the […]
Authentic Leadership Lessons From The Dead Poets Society – What will your verse be?
This past week I was in Ottawa visiting my daughter, Hayley, who is proudly starting her teaching career in a Montessori high school. She finished her dual degree in Education and Arts this past year and is a passionate, purpose-driven new teacher. In our conversations I asked Hayley about her vision for herself as a […]
Stop Evaluating People and Start Holding Them Accountable
In recent months, smart companies are finally seeing the futility of the old, outdated rule-based, bureaucratic “evaluation systems” of performance management. Many organizations I work with are abolishing their “rank and yank” systems that assign employees a performance score relative to their peers, while punishing or firing those with low grades. Other organizations are wisely […]
Don’t Mistake Spontaneity For Authenticity
This week, in my friend and colleague, Corey Olynik’s weekly column (go to www.coreyolynik.com to subscribe; I highly recommend it), he poses some great questions about authenticity and authentic leadership. To quote Corey, “We hear so much about being an “authentic” leader. I believe that fully. You must lead from who you are; at the […]
What Authentic People Know About Winning
I spent the past week with my two ten-year-old grandchildren, Ethan and Holland. One of the activities we love to do together is play monopoly. I have to admit, rather embarrassingly, that when I pick up the dice for the first move, I transform from a kindly grandfather into a ruthless competitor. I become a […]
Is Leadership About Inspiration or Influence?
I received a thoughtful response to my latest article from a client: “You state: “the true measure of a leader is their capacity to influence. I do not disagree that successful leadership does include the ability to influence, but is the true measure of a leader in their capacity to influence? Or is it in […]
