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 [...]
There are some great books on leadership and, increasingly, some great blogs; and there has certainly been fascination with the subject of management and leadership over the last 20 years. Indeed, most generations seek to redefine “leadership” according to their own times. And while each new generation adds to the body of knowledge, sometimes it [...]
For those of you who are regular readers, you will know that I am a strong proponent of women in leadership roles. I was lucky to be born into a time where it is acceptable for women to take on and excel in leadership positions — women like Indra Nooyi, Lynn Elsenhans, Anne Mulcahy and [...]
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 [...]
One of the critical things that a leader must possess is honesty. Not only in the sense that they ought to be honest in their behavior, but also in that they must call things as they see them [see If You Can Only Focus on One Thing...]. Without doubt, leaders will come upon [...]
The first Monday of September is Labor Day in the United States, a day recognized around the world — albeit on different days and terms (International Workers’ Day or May Day in other countries) -– to celebrate social and economic achievement. It is a time to recharge and refuel, and constitutes a yearly national tribute [...]
Leaders can be found at all levels of an organization. For sure, you will see them sitting at the boardroom table, but you will also see leaders in the mailroom, on the factory floor and in the cafeteria. In fact, wherever you look — if you look closely enough — you will find a leader. [...]
How often do you look through your organization chart? How closely do you look? What do you look for?
Some executives survey their org charts with a sense of achievement, while others look for ways to cut costs; but often a more productive path is to identify new synergies and think through ways to bring those [...]
The path to becoming a leader is never clear. You may arrive at a leadership position by luck, opportunity, hard work or even because of a disaster. It is precisely because of this that many people, as they begin to transition into leadership roles, begin to search out the leadership story of others. From the [...]
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, [...]
