Leadership

Don't dismiss the "soft stuff."

Stereotypes contribute to the problem in two ways.

Eric Shinseki's resignation won't restore trust, but it does open the door for someone who can.

Last week, there was a wonderful essay in The New York Times about a leadership program created by the old Bell System back in 1952. The all-powerful telephone company worried that its executives needed a broader perspective, not just on business but also on society, even life itself. “A well-trained man knows how to answer […]

The corporate president stared out the window of his skyscraper office. His forehead was furrowed in anger and puzzlement. His fingers drummed the arm of his chair with a speed that signified intense frustration. The other executives in the room waited expectantly. Each had said his piece. Each had come to his and her own […]

Companies unintentionally provoke bad behavior.

“After 18 months our troops will begin to come home.” – President Obama speaking to the nation on his strategy for Afghanistan, December 1, 2009 In his West Point speech about the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, President Obama did four important things. First and most importantly, he took personal responsibility for winning the […]

Few activities in a workplace polarize like performance reviews. Some see them as subjective and ungrounded, one-sided and boss-dominated and something we should do away with entirely, an opinion put forth most recently in a Wall Street Journal article. Others find them an invaluable tool to develop employees and move the company forward. Our view? […]

Don't just give feedback.

Is your company unintentionally keeping your most senior people from getting the feedback they most need? It can easily happen as an unintended consequence of success. Consider these situations: Senior executives at car companies drive only the newest models: For decades, the top executives at America’s leading automobile manufacturers always drove models fresh from the […]

Data from 18,000 people provides a snapshot.

Help is not coming.

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

The gap between CEO compensation and that of the average worker continues to grow at an astounding rate. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, CEO compensation in the United States was approximately 40 times greater than that of the average worker in 1960 and is now over 400 times greater (a much larger gap […]

Nobody really recommends command-and-control leadership anymore. But no fully formed alternative has emerged. So mature companies often struggle to balance...

Last spring Brett Favre pulled the plug on his pro football career, saying that he didn’t have the heart to play any longer. This July he’s had a change of heart. This is not the first time Favre has changed his mind about retirement. But what’s different this time is that his team, the Green […]

A look at successful examples.

I was reminded last week of a simple but important truth: if you want to manage people effectively, ask them what they need from you in order to succeed. The realisation came as I was coaching a executive who had been finding it very difficult to manage the disparate people in her team. Some were […]

And what leaders can do to prevent it.

The Presiding Bishop of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church speaks about love and unity in a time of deep division.