In one of my grandfather’s poems, he wrote, “Make your work your hobby and ride cowboy ride!” It was his way of telling us kids to get a job we’d love so we would never have to work a day in our lives. I’ve gotten to coach over a thousand new, middle and senior executives, […]
Read MoreThomas Jefferson said, “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” Ralph Waldo Emerson can be credited with the corollary, “Your actions speak so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying.” Your reputation is shaped by your actions, not by your education, not by your good intentions, and not even by your values. People can’t […]
Read MoreYou’ve probably heard – and may even believe – that if you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not trying hard enough. So, are we all supposed to start making mistakes to prove we’re trying? And what if we start making mistakes and getting in trouble for them? Then what good is this old saying to […]
Read MoreYou might have heard it said that if you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not trying hard enough, and it’s one of my favorite, difficult topics in leadership! Before we explore this any further, let me be clear that the kinds of errors that I’m addressing are not the kinds of mistakes that literally put […]
Read MoreI recently interviewed Scott Wallinger (left) for my podcast, an iconic manager and leader in the forestry profession (http://leadershipnature.com/podcasts/s1e13-scott-wallinger/), and Scott reflected on his lessons in leadership through the lenses of history and experience. Near the end of this episode, Scott talked about the tendency of foresters to analyze things until they have the answer […]
Read MoreIf you only got a 10 to 35 percent survival rate on your next reforestation project, would you be happy with the result? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, that is the success rate of most training – including leadership training – not necessarily because of the quality of the training itself but because of what […]
Read MoreTraining is great. Don’t get me wrong. I make a good living as a leadership trainer. But entirely too much training is thrown at fixing performance challenges when the root cause of the problem lies elsewhere. This wastes their time, your money and opportunity cost for everyone of taking better action. Much like teaching a […]
Read MoreIt’s true that we all have natural abilities that are important factors in our career success. Some of us are naturals at sales and negotiation, while others are terrific at data analysis. Some managers are detail-oriented planners, while others are gifted at seeing the “big picture.” However, the emphasis on strengths in popular management literature […]
Read More“Dad, what do you do?” This was the question that Stafford County Administrator Anthony Romanello was asked by his son, a high school senior at the time, and one that would ultimately enlighten and inspire his own father, a veteran executive and respected civic leader. “I’m responsible for day-to-day operations of Stafford County, Virginia, government […]
Read MoreWhen you’re an individual contributor, you measure your results by sales, acres, widgets and reports, but when you’re a leader, you measure your results by feedback. This was on my mind as I cut, split and piled firewood last weekend. I had felled the dead trees months before, and they had been collecting fungus and […]
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