“One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover
creative solitude.”
Carl Sandburg
________
Reflections
“One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.”
Carl Sandburg
________
Reflections
When Giving Feedback, it’s not the words; it’s the mindset.
I coach a lot of leaders and probably the top task they have anxiety about is giving feedback. When I ask them why they’re hesitant, I hear comments such as: “I’m afraid it will be uncomfortable; they’ll get upset.” “I don’t like conflict and feedback feels...
Staying in the Now: Important for Life and Leadership
I just finished teaching an online course “Mindfulness in Leadership.” One of the major points is that most of us spend more time dwelling on the past or worrying about the future than we do in the moment. I definitely fall into the “worrying about the future”...
Leadership From the Inside Out
“We judge ourselves by our intentions; we judge others by their actions.” I have never coached anyone who intends to be an ineffective leader. I often start coaching engagements using a 360 assessment called The Leadership Circle Profile. This insightful tool measures...
One characteristic that gets in the way of being an effective leader
“Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.” -- Simone Weil In my work with leaders, I find that one very human characteristic holds us back from being an effective leader: our ability and propensity to tell ourselves stories. Humans...
Along Comes Mary
When I was writing this blog, the words to a song by the Association came to me (Along Comes Mary) along with the title to a movie from the 90’s (There’s Something About Mary). Unfortunately, both of those titles have some connotations I did not want to evoke (but I...
What separates a great leader from an ineffective leader?
“A business can’t outgrow the effectiveness of its leadership.” --Scaling Leadership (Anderson and Adams, 2019 We’ve known for a long time that great organizations are the direct result of great leaders. But what separates a great leader from an ineffective leader? A...
Mindlessness
Have you found yourself experiencing the following: rushing through activities without being attentive to them breaking or spilling things because of carelessness inattention, or thinking of something else failing to notice subtle feelings of physical tension or...
A leadership development tool that really works
I use the Leadership Circle 360 profile in my coaching and assessment work because it is both practical and powerful. I don't say this lightly as I am hardly new to leadership assessments. During my Corporate career in a senior leadership role, I was on the other...
“Why We Work” by Barry Schwartz
On my Kindle... In the late 90’s, I was in a leadership class and was asked to write about my philosophy of leadership. I said this: “I believe that people want to do good work. I believe that people want to get meaning from their work, to make a valuable contribution...
The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh
On My Kindle... What I love about this book is that it combines two of my top interests in one topic: unconscious bias and growth vs. fixed mindset. When I conduct workshops on unconscious bias, everyone is nervous to begin with. We feel that if have any bias...
How Coaching Differs From Counseling, Mentoring and Consulting
I love coaching. Often at the end of a session, a client will give a big sigh and say, “I feel better.” I usually end a session by asking, “What worked well for you today?” “What didn’t work as well.” Often, being able to talk about anything without judgment or...
“Those who can do – can’t teach!”
Coming from a family of teachers and having been one myself, I always heard the quote putting down teaching as a job people did when they couldn’t do anything else. “Those who can do – those who can’t teach.” So when I saw the above quote in this week’s New York...
