Categories
Archives
Search
Category: Leadership
Effective leaders make room for failure
After decades of business coaching, I have found that there are two “absolutes” of a top-performing team: They don’t make excuses and they don’t blame others. That is because they are not afraid of making a mistake. Strong leaders make room for failure and the opportunity to learn from it.Read More…
Something respected leaders never do
“I will speak ill of no man…and speak all the good I know of everybody.” – Ben Franklin
Several years ago a client of mine asked me to coach one of his sales team leaders. His name was Carl, and his production was below expectations. Even though Carl worked as hard as any team leader, he just kept coming up short. John, his boss, knew the problem. Carl was in the habit of saying negative things about other team members behind their back. We don’t have to be a genius to figure out the repercussions of this habit: Read More…
Respected leaders own their mistakes
We all make mistakes. That is a given. We have also realize that we can learn from our mistakes. Even though learning is positive, making mistakes always hurts a least a little. We want to make sure a mistake doesn’t hurt us twice. We need to admit it and own it as quickly as possible. Read More…
When little things become big things…
“Part of good leadership means having a delicate sensitivity towards others and walking with them side-by-side” -Charles Hobbs
Effective leaders are very good at filling up emotional bank accounts. Here is a story from Stephen M.R. Covey’s book “The Speed of Trust”:
“One afternoon we were preparing for a special dinner in the home of the president of the University. The following day was commencement, and that night we were hosting a dinner for major donors to the university and the honorary doctorate recipient, a prominent government official from Latin America.
As we were setting up the tables, a delivery of beautiful floral centerpieces arrived, obviously ordered by the university development office. The wife of our university president came over to him in a dither and said, “We have a problem.” She held up a plain-looking margarine tub containing violets from the garden. As it turned out, Lola- an older woman from Europe who had been their housekeeper for many years – had already prepared the “centerpieces” for the event. Read More…
A mark of character
“You can judge a person’s character by the way he treats people who can’t help or hurt him”
I came across the above quote today, and my thoughts immediately went to an event that occurred when I was a child in my early teens. It happened in Cheyenne, Wyoming on a hot summer day. I was visiting relatives, and my cousins and I were out walking around in a small strip mall. Someone came up to me and said, “There is a guy over there giving out free ice cream!” I looked over, saw the crowd, and made a beeline to the free ice cream. My eyes were glued to the prize like a heat-seeking missile. Just a few feet before I got there, an arm gently stretched out and halted my momentum. Read More…