In the current economic climate, companies across the world are trying to figure out how to best weather the storm. Layoffs have seemingly become the norm; just google “layoffs” or look here and you’ll see what I mean. Such dire circumstances leave many wondering about the fate of their jobs, their families, and [...]

Well if we’ve ever needed an example of what it really is to lead during a crisis, this past week’s U.S. Airways flight 1549 water landing shows us loud and clear.  Just moments after takeoff, the 29-year U.S. Airways veteran captain of the plane and a pilot for 40 years, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, knew [...]

The latest chapter in the U.S. fiscal drama – rejection and then subsequent passage of the government’s purported bailout/rescue measure – underlines the critical roles both negotiation and trust play in effective leadership. Sound leadership is often bolstered by artful negotiation skills, whether selling an idea, an approach or tangible product. Integrity, credibility and trust [...]

The global economy continues to experience extreme volatility as we digest and react to what is arguably the most severe financial environment many of us have ever witnessed. The latest development, involving the proposed colossal intervention -– a.k.a. “bailout” – by the US government to ease an ever-expanding crisis, has not yet alleviated the markets’ [...]

The last couple of weeks has seen some very important decisions being made by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Lehman Bros has been allowed to fail, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and now insurance giant AIG have been bailed out. Some of our largest financial giants have sunk, some have been [...]

Tackling issues requires different — and often multiple — leadership approaches. The complexity of the situation will dictate the response. While routine problems are generally solved through experience and expertise, complex issues tend to be tackled more effectively with innovative solutions.
Ronald Heifetz, Harvard professor and co-founder of its Center for Public Leadership, encourages leaders to:

Openly [...]

There are plenty of books and quite a few blogs that focus on good leadership. They talk about what needs to be done and when, they discuss decision making, strategy, team building and collaboration. But what about bad leadership? It seems that when it comes to bad leadership, there is very little to be found.
However, [...]

Every person must make choices in their lives. These choices may be monumental or insignificant, they may be personal or they may be professional; but every day, our choices and our decisions measure in the thousands.
Consider for a moment, the most mundane of tasks — having breakfast. Think through your process of decision making. You [...]

In good times, it is rather easy to keep employees motivated to “ride the wave.”  This goes without saying.  However, business leaders are not hired to lead only during good times.  In fact, true leadership reveals itself in times of difficulty.  Martin Luther King Jr. put this perspective into great words when he stated, “The [...]

Britney’s brain is toxic
Originally uploaded by bowbrick
She is in the airport lounge. She is in the inflight magazine. When you walk past the duty free store there are perfumes. There is music and there are film clips. And she is all over the newspapers and magazine racks. Let’s face it, no matter how busy you [...]