Do you know what your leadership purpose is? If you want to drive a high-performance organization, you must find ways to make employee performance meaningful. Sadly, many executive teams focus on numbers instead of words when trying to motivate people to achieve more. Carrots and sticks may work in … [Read more...] about The Quest for Leadership Purpose
leadership decisions
Driven to Lead: What Makes People Tick
Leadership is about relationships with others. You cannot lead without understanding the innate drives that are essential to human development and survival. “Our understanding of leadership can be no better than our understanding of what makes humans, all humans, tick—what are the ultimate … [Read more...] about Driven to Lead: What Makes People Tick
How to Voice Your Values
It can be extremely difficult to express your personal values at work, especially when confronted with questions of right vs. wrong. Issues become thornier when you’re facing a choice between degrees of right vs. right. Most of us want to bring our whole selves to work: our skills, ambitions and … [Read more...] about How to Voice Your Values
Mind Over Mood: 3 Paths to Better Decisions
Psychologists, neuroscientists, economists and Buddhism scholars are shedding new light on how we make decisions: We make the best choices when we acknowledge our emotions. In Western civilization, we’re taught that the best decisions are based on logic and reason. Businesses favor data … [Read more...] about Mind Over Mood: 3 Paths to Better Decisions
How To Make Great Leadership Decisions
The normal state of your mind is that you have intuitive feelings and opinions about almost everything that comes your way. ~ Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize laureate in economics We are quick to pass judgment and make snap decisions. The smarter and more educated we are, the more overconfident we are … [Read more...] about How To Make Great Leadership Decisions
The Leadership Trust Deficit
Employees want consistency between their leaders’ words and actions. But only 11 percent strongly agree that their managers “walk the talk,” a 2011 Maritz poll reveals. Fairly or unfairly, leaders’ behaviors are magnified and weighted, including their values, work ethics, integrity and perceived … [Read more...] about The Leadership Trust Deficit
The End of Bad Leadership
Leaders everywhere are in disrepute. Hardly a day goes by without news of corporate ethical violations, financial fudging and CEO failures. Yet, compensation packages and bonuses continue unabated, even when disgraced leaders are sent packing. (photo courtesy freedigitalphotos.net) Harvard Business … [Read more...] about The End of Bad Leadership
In Search of Executive Wisdom
"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to be." ~ Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady Every person in an executive role aspires to be wise and is expected to exercise wisdom in their decisions. Unfortunately, far … [Read more...] about In Search of Executive Wisdom
The Snowball Effect: Start Change Now
To effect change, you must do something differently. It starts with you. Do it right, and you’ll enjoy a snowball effect that helps your team, direct reports and even family members implement change. While many books have covered organizational change, business school professors Chip and Dan Heath … [Read more...] about The Snowball Effect: Start Change Now
5 Biases That Lead to Bad Decisions
A growing body of research reveals that our behavior and decisions are influenced by an array of strong psychological undercurrents, all of which are more powerful and pervasive than we realize. By charting these undercurrents and their unanticipated effects, we can identify our faulty thinking … [Read more...] about 5 Biases That Lead to Bad Decisions