Leadership Blog

The “Buzz” Of Great Webinars: The Interview

The “Buzz” Of Great Webinars: The Interview

One way to ensure you run a high-engagement webinar is creating a "buzz" about your own session. You can do this by sharing in advance some of its content with your audience - as a "teaser". This is also an opportunity to showcase the "difference" of your...

The Discomfort Zone Of Leadership

The Discomfort Zone Of Leadership

Organizations and individuals like to stay in their comfort zones. But when you raise a difficult issue or surface a deep value conflict, you generate significant heat. When calling attention to tough questions or drawing people’s sense of responsibility...

The Power Of Storytelling

The Power Of Storytelling

How teaching with stories can enhance the joy of learning Humans are storytelling creatures. We are hardwired to seek out stories to help us absorb information and connect it with our experiences. A 2010 study in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of...

The Surprising Roadblocks To Managing Group Dynamics

The Surprising Roadblocks To Managing Group Dynamics

Let’s say you have a great group. Maybe you didn’t get to handpick all of the members, but each has something valuable to bring to the table.  Everyone understands the objectives, directives and expectations. They’re comfortable with the time limits, seem...

What I Should Have Said (But Couldn’t In The Moment)

I was in an intensive group seminar a few weeks ago and the group was struggling to deal with its own amazing power. At one point I said something and someone pointed out that my intervention had been very ineffective. Later in the days that same person...

What If … All You Knew About Leadership Was Wrong? (1 Of 3)

What If … All You Knew About Leadership Was Wrong? (1 Of 3)

ON MOTIVATION: ‐ Myth: “Leaders motivate people” “Leaders are supposed to influence followers. But what is this is not true? Influencing ‐ with or without authority ‐ is often predicated on the ability to motivate. But recent studies on motivational theory...

What If … All You Knew About Leadership Was Wrong? (3 Of 3)

What If … All You Knew About Leadership Was Wrong? (3 Of 3)

ON FEELING SAFE– Myths: “A good leader make you feel safe” “Leaders are nice to followers” “For decades, I've been interested in this — because it sounds like a paradox: "Our leadership isn't exercising any leadership." Why do so many people feel that way...

What Question Can Change Your Life In 2015?

What Question Can Change Your Life In 2015?

I love poetry and I want to take this opportunity to wish a great 2015 to all my friends with the verses of David Whyte, a poet that has brought his talent into the field of organizational and leadership development. I read his verses often in my work with...

What’s Your Favorite Definition Of Resilience?

What’s Your Favorite Definition Of Resilience?

These days everyone talk about resilience. I wonder which of these definitions resonates the most with you as a leader... “Successful adaptation despite risk and adversity. Resilience requires exposure to significant risks, overcoming risks or adversity,...

The fallacy of “lessons learned” | SmartBrief

The fallacy of “lessons learned” | SmartBrief

Ah, the “lessons learned” meeting: that corporate ritual convened in the name of learning from experience -- normally at the end of a long project -- in order to list the issues encountered and avoid them in the future. Or so we hope.I can’t stand these meetings...

How Leaders And Educators Invite “Teachable Moments”

How Leaders And Educators Invite “Teachable Moments”

Leaders and educators needs to stay open to the unfolding life of the group in the "here and now" and take a reflective stance.  This is a door to enter below-the-surface context for ourselves and for our  teams. This is a call to an immersive and experiential...

Invisible! A Diagnostic Leadership Case Study

Invisible! A Diagnostic Leadership Case Study

It's 10:00 AM and the VP business meeting is about to start. In this meeting at some point, Alex makes a provocative comment, questioning whether everyone in the room is pulling their weight during a challenging restructuring of the firm… Alex’s comment...

Inner Or External? What Drives Group Dynamics Roles?

Inner Or External? What Drives Group Dynamics Roles?

It’s called intrinsic motivation and it’s your best chance at setting the conditions for high-performance. Intrinsic motivation refers to a person performing an action because they enjoy it, not because they are seeking a reward. Intrinsic motivation is behavior...

Goodbye Madiba, Hello 2014

Goodbye Madiba, Hello 2014

Nelson Rolhlahla Mandela (Madiba) was the primary leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa that opposed the systematc segregation of black Africans by an all-white minority. He was the leader of a largely peaceful, but sometimes violent,...

Four Critical Deceits That Block Learning

Four Critical Deceits That Block Learning

The Communication Fallacy We tend to overestimate the impact of what we say on people because we assume that what we say: Was heard (but often people were not paying attention) ; Was understood as we would (but we have a hard time seeing the world from a...

Daring To Reflect To Multiply Your Impact As A Leader

Daring To Reflect To Multiply Your Impact As A Leader

Leadership professionals, writers and scholars refer to “leadership development” rather than “leadership training.” This begs an obvious question: why do they do that? The reason is that learning about leadership is, in point of fact, developmental....

3 Simple Methods For Reflection-on-action

3 Simple Methods For Reflection-on-action

How debriefing can help your team tackle tough problems Let’s say you’re working with a team on an important project. You have a few meetings, and you put together a plan. But not long after the tasks are assigned and everyone gets started, things start to fall apart....

3 Questions To Ask When Making Observations

3 Questions To Ask When Making Observations

  How making observations and giving feedback can strengthen a group’s performance If you want to help your team improve group dynamics and work more effectively, then observing how your group interacts is an important part of your role as a leader. Many of the...

The Art Of Asking Great Questions For Leaders

The Art Of Asking Great Questions For Leaders

"Asking great questions is not easy. This is because it is not just a matter of learning some 'talking by numbers' techniques. Techniques are important. But they work best when underpinned by deeply held values and are reinforced by hours of...

The Amazing Power Of The Breakthrough Leadership Lab

The Amazing Power Of The Breakthrough Leadership Lab

Not so long ago, a Forbes article was written listing the qualities that make a great leader. For example, honesty, communication, and a sense of humor of some great leadership skills. But how do you use these skills to your advantage when you're in a...

Shall We Feast On Our Life On 2013?

Shall We Feast On Our Life On 2013?

I love poetry and want to take this opportunity to wish a great 2013 to all my friends who read this blog. I want to do it with the verses of Derek Walcott, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992, the first Caribbean writer to receive the...

Seek Persistent Disequilibrium

Seek Persistent Disequilibrium

"Neither constancy nor relentless change will support a creation. A good creation, like good jazz, must balance the stable formula with frequent out-of-kilter notes. Equilibrium is death. Yet unless a system stabilizes to an equilibrium point, it is no...

Ron Johnson And The Work Of Leadership

Ron Johnson And The Work Of Leadership

He was like a knight in shining armor. Missouri Highway Patrol Ron Johnson stepped up last Thursday to take charge of in Ferguson, Missouri and I (with the rest of the nation) had great hopes that he was the man for the job. At a press conference the next...