The Five Key Ways To Unleash Greatness On Your Team
I meet some amazing leaders in my work. People hire me to work with their organization and I end up growing by spending time with them. One such leader who has turned into a good friend is John Liston. John was formerly a regional director at Great West Life, and now is the principal of […]
Good Leadership Means Helping People Know They Make An Impact
This past week our family buried our pet and companion, Freddie. After a long and good life, we laid him to rest in the field behind our home where he loved to chase squirrels and gophers and lie in the sun. As part of a little funeral for him we each told stories about what […]
The Key To Organizational Leadership: Strong Character
Hydro One, a Crown corporation that runs Ontario’s transmission system, fired an employee this past week who shouted obscenities at a Toronto television reporter after a soccer game. While the company’s code of conduct (which all employees sign) covers after work behavior, the decision to let the engineer go generated a heated debate online. In […]
Engaging Employees in Economic Uncertainty
The recent economic slowdown has created great uncertainty for businesses and, adding to the pressure, are the debates regarding how much oil and gas companies will be affected and in what way. What we can be certain about is that employers that consciously manage their work culture and employees during times of uncertainty will position […]
Personal Leadership: Learning To Lead Without An Ego
One of the ways you can be guided to your authentic self is to be attentive to stories that capture your attention. I’m drawn to stories that illustrate personal leadership – the capacity to inspire and influence others that comes from the identity and integrity of a person. A few weeks ago, while reading the […]
The Key To Building A Strong Organizational Culture
In my leadership development work I meet some amazing leaders all across the country. One of the executives in a recent program on Leadership Excellence validated my principles by expressing that there is more to excellence than setting high standards and achieving operational results. “Along with operational excellence, you have to have people excellence,” she […]
Be a Good Leader By Being A Good Person
John Coltrane, the great American jazz saxophonist and composer, once said that to be a better artist you have to be a better person. He could easily have been talking about leadership. My research and observation of leaders during the past couple of decades has demonstrated clearly that great leadership can’t be reduced to techniques […]
From Leadership Training To Leadership Development: The Duty To Care
I just got off the phone with my friend and colleague, John Knapp, Retired Deputy Minister of Alberta Agriculture and author of The Leader’s Practice Guide: How to Achieve True Leadership Success. John is one of the old school leaders with true character. But John was not only a leader with class, he was one […]
The Big Value Of Small
According to the Greek storyteller Aesop, a little mouse ran up and down a sleeping lion who awoke, grabbed the poor helpless rodent and opened his big jaws to swallow him. “Pardon, O King,” cried the little mouse, “Please forgive me. I promise never to climb on you again. And if you let me go, […]
The Roots Of Employee Accountability
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches… to one who is striking at the root.” – Henry David Thoreau Certain species of bamboo trees in Southeast Asia grow less than an inch in four years, but in their fifth year will grow over a hundred feet. An unseen root system develops below the surface […]
