Category: Leadership Thoughts
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Leadership Stories: The American Dream
The Bedtime ritual at our house usually finishes with “Dad tell me a story”. I try to tell stories that illustrate to our children who we are, where we came from, and to instill lessons that my family passed on to me. As I tell the stories, it is very clear to me how they have impacted my life,…
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Effective Communications: The Catalyst for Everything You Want to Accomplish
Innovation engineering…empowerment…entrepreneurialism…employee engagement… These are big themes. Powerful ingredients. And when they come together, they can help you accomplish great things. But it won’t happen without great leadership and a high-powered, multi-faceted, never-ending communication campaign. Nitin Nohria, Dean of the Harvard Business School, once said that “communication is the real work of leadership.” I’d like to…
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Fair is not Equal: How to win the hearts and minds of your people
I once had a union official lodge a complaint that we were not treating everyone in the factory the same and that it had to stop. I told him that if he insisted, at my next “all hands” meeting I would announce that the union told me to treat them all poorly. The reason –…
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Praise for The Perpetual Innovation Machine
Take a look at what executives and thought leaders are saying about The Perpetual Innovation Machine, a book that describes a holistic approach to management which uses data-driven analysis, skillful prioritization, inspiring leadership and the ‘lost art’ of employee engagement to achieve exceptional results. Competition in the 21st Century is about ‘innovation as a mindset…
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Building an Innovative Culture: 8 Key Components
Innovation can be built into a Corporate Culture. By incorporating eight key components, you will be able to build a highly focused, pragmatic Perpetual Innovation Machine that will help your organization continually achieve breakthrough performance. Here’s a quick rundown. 1) A sharp focus on your top business priority. Let’s face it. All of the result measures you…
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12 Observations on Leading
I had a mentor that strongly encouraged all of his front line managers to consciously develop and formulate a personal philosophy of leadership. He saw it as his mission to teach and develop; and he would provide book excerpts, quotes, and lessons learned that he used to develop his own philosophy. One of the lists that…
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Top 10 “Must-Do’s” for a Front Line Leader
This is a checklist that has served me well as the front line leader of many organizational turnarounds . Must be the Leader and set the example for the organization Must re-shape the work environment and the organizational culture Must formulate concrete strategy and long-term objectives Must develop and execute annual operating plans Must establish and enforce standards…
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Top 8 Distinctions between Manager and Leader
Warren Bennis once created a whole list of distinctions between manager and leader, some of the following may be helpful. The manager administers, the leader innovates The manager is a copy, the leader is an original The manager maintains, the leader develops The manager focuses on systems and structure, the leader focuses on people The…
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How good was your last hire / promotion?
“One reason the Roman Empire grew so large and survived so long – a prodigious feat of management – is that there was no railway, car, airplane, radio, paper, or telephone. And therefore you could not maintain any illusion of direct control over a general or a provincial governor. You could not feel at the…
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5 Realities of Leadership
“He who wishes to be obeyed must first know how to command” – Niccolo Machiavelli “No man is a leader until his appointment is ratified in the minds and hearts of his men” – The Infantry Journal, 1954 “The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such” – Andre Maurois…