President Obama recently sparked an interesting dialogue about empathy when he stated that he would nominate a Supreme Court justice “who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract theory. … It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives,” to replace the outgoing Justice David Souter.  In short, he wants [...]

The Stevie Awards has named nine executives who will chair specialized final-judging committees for its Seventh Annual American Business Awards. I am proud to say that I have been selected as the chairwoman for the Management category. The American Business Awards (www.stevieawards.com/aba) are open to all organizations operating within the U.S.A. – public and [...]

There is no doubt that we are facing challenging times. Within many workplaces we are losing experienced workers as they are either retrenched or retire, replacing them, if at all, with the sea of less experienced Generation Y. This is part of a structural realignment that has been underway now for some years, with many [...]

The concept of paying it forward is one which can truly benefit many and was featured in a great movie from 2000 starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt & Haley Joel Osment. It reminds me of a commercial from the 1970s for Faberge shampoo in which they had the expression “if you tell two friends and [...]

Increasingly, businesses are seeing the benefits of working in a matrix. But while this works for the organization, individuals can often find operating in a matrix, more than a little challenging. But there are some very simple things that you can do to make the matrix work for you.
First up, polish your communication skills. When [...]

Last week I had an opportunity to talk with Jo Miller, CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching, and the many listeners who attended the webinar on office politics.  Our discussion prompted many questions from the listeners and in response to these questions, Jo and I took the opportunity to reply.  These questions and answers can [...]

We like to think that we can have our cake and eat it too. However, in business, few leaders have such luxuries available. Instead, we must make choices regarding our preferences or priorities. A simple example might be speed versus accuracy. Obviously, we’d love to get things both fast and right. [...]

Jo Miller, CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching, and I will be talking about “Winning at the Game of Office Politics” on Tuesday, February 24 2009, 11:00am-12:00pm PST
Some topics we’ll be addressing include:

Is it possible to navigate office politics without becoming a political animal?
Learn the difference between office politics and organizational awareness.
Discover the unwritten “rules of [...]

With governments around the world developing economic stimulus packages and high level meetings of the world’s leading politicians (Davos) and thinkers (TED) – there is clearly a lot of activity and talk around growth, innovation and productivity. In amongst all this – how do we, as leaders, choose what and who to listen to? What [...]

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 [...]