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Sometimes You Win When You Lose
Friends, Todays story reflects my hard-won victory over . . . well, over me. It was grueling — like a 5-set tennis match. And, like a lot of my wins in the world of self-management and...
View ArticleLeaders: Compelling, Persuasive, Articulate – Forget That!
Leaders – Compelling, Articulate, Persuasive – Forget That Friends, Think of leaders who were powerful communicators: there’s Lincoln’s simple elegance at Gettysburg, FDR on “nothing to fear,” JFK on...
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Folks are Restless
Friends, The last month has been reminiscent of a time 40 years ago, in the late 60s when all hell broke loose. Powerlessness and acceptance of injustice were cast aside, as people took to the streets...
View ArticleFinding the Mohamed Bouazizi in Your World
Friends, I’m looking for the Mohamed Bouazizi in my world. . . and in yours. Mind you, this is scary leadership stuff. Bouazizi was angry. He was a street vegetable vendor. A policewoman fined him and...
View ArticleYou Have No Idea (What They’re Thinking)
Friends, My friend Cheryl Polk said something to me I’ll never forget, “We share the same physical space,” she said, “but we don’t share the same psychological space.” Cheryl’s a psychologist, an...
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Kid Kate Coaches on Coaching
Friends, I can’t quite figure out what to think of the fact that Kate, our oldest daughter, was the one of our three kids who seemed to need the most coaching; and now at 22, she’s expert and...
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Lincoln, Washington, You – stature and leadership
Friends, To paraphrase Tina Turner, “What’s height got to do with it?” Well, it seems like a lot. When George Washington at 6’1″ served as first president he was literally a head taller than many of...
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When an Important Partnership is Strained – Part Two
Last week I suggested that the best way to renew a strained partnership is to work on yourself. I suggested I must lead with my best self to begin with the assumption that I have done something to...
View ArticleHow We’ve Discovered Untapped Resources
I was with a client last week and they repeatedly used the word “under-resourced.” If you’re not Google or Twitter, that statement probably applies to you, right? We’re all stretched thin in these...
View ArticleGaining Leverage With Challenging “Allies”
Although we battle with some adversaries, e.g., Obama v. Assad; most of our difficulties – truth be told are with allies, those in our tent: Boehner with the Tea Party, mom with dad, CEO with COO, boss...
View ArticleBosses Forget They Have Permanent Megaphones
My friend Miss Take – the professor of the school of lessons-from-experience — taught me a good one again this week. It was a “dad mistake,” but reminiscent of “boss mistakes” I’ve seen and boss...
View Article5 Things Leaders Do When Emotions Are High
Last week, I noted that any leadership problem that’s worth its salt will have emotion bursting through it. Whether that problem’s a “rebellious teenager,” the Israelis and Palestinians, employee...
View ArticleHow Can You Lead When You’re Unsure
I invite my students to begin the semester by writing about what would make this their Best Class Ever. You could think, I suppose about what could make this your best summer ever (need that be...
View ArticleFinding the Mohamed Bouazizi in Your World
Friends, I’m looking for the Mohamed Bouazizi in my world. . . and in yours. Mind you, this is scary leadership stuff. Bouazizi was angry. He was a street vegetable vendor. A policewoman fined him and...
View ArticleYou Have No Idea (What They’re Thinking)
Friends, My friend Cheryl Polk said something to me I’ll never forget, “We share the same physical space,” she said, “but we don’t share the same psychological space.” Cheryl’s a psychologist, an...
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Kid Kate Coaches on Coaching
Friends, I can’t quite figure out what to think of the fact that Kate, our oldest daughter, was the one of our three kids who seemed to need the most coaching; and now at 22, she’s expert and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lincoln, Washington, You – stature and leadership
Friends, To paraphrase Tina Turner, “What’s height got to do with it?” Well, it seems like a lot. When George Washington at 6’1″ served as first president he was literally a head taller than many of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When an Important Partnership is Strained – Part Two
Last week I suggested that the best way to renew a strained partnership is to work on yourself. I suggested I must lead with my best self to begin with the assumption that I have done something to...
View ArticleGather Your Courage and Ask a Transformational Question
10 of my law school classmates made it to sandy, sunny Lake Michigan for a weekend gathering, truncated into 36 hours, due to widespread workaholism and our cross-country flights. As if the...
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Don’t Be a Leader in a Bubble
As we swim in the national soup of a presidential campaign, the best learning about leadership lies outside the usual back-and-forth. Whether we are leading in an office or company, a school or...
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