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Leadership, Leadership Lessons

Five Questions for Leaders Who Would Rather Be Effective Than Right

During the opening session of a new leadership development program last week, I asked the participants to share the biggest leadership lesson they’ve learned in their careers so far. There were a lot of interesting answers. One participant shared one that really stuck with me because I think it’s so true. The lesson was it’s not enough to have the right idea, you have to influence other people to believe that it’s the right idea.

Current Affairs, Leadership Lessons

What Leaders Must Learn from the NFL Fiasco

The speed and volume of the emerging fiasco facing the NFL has been breathtaking. In the first football weekend after the League’s response to the video of Ray Rice punching his fiancé, there were players with similar charges against them scheduled to play on Sunday. One was pulled just before game time; the other played.

Leadership Lessons, Mindful Mondays

Six Things to Admire in LeBron James Letter to Cleveland

Long time readers of this blog may have noticed that I don’t write as often as I used to about leaders in the news. There are different reasons for that. One of the biggest is the great examples seem fewer and farther between. Another is that I’m skeptical about being spun. You may have heard about the way NBA superstar LeBron James shared the news last week that he’s returning to his hometown to play again for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Rather than staging a press conference or a media spectacle like the classless The Decision broadcast in which he announced four years ago that he was “taking his talents to South Beach,” he posted an open letter on the Sports Illustrated website. So, yeah, I recognize that when someone as famous as LeBron James makes a big announcement that I am, to some degree, being spun. In this case, I don’t care. The points he made in the letter and the way he made them are, at their most basic level, ones that leaders can admire. In reading through it, I identified six admirable traits that are worth reflecting on and aspiring to on a Mindful Monday or any other day of the week.

Leadership, Leadership Lessons, Organizational Development

Three Must Do’s for Leaders Leading Through Change

As reported in the New York Times this week, the World Bank is in the midst of a two year restructuring effort. The basic goal of the change is to shift from the Bank’s decades-long regional structure to one that is organized around areas of functional expertise. Another goal is to reduce expenses. Everyone’s world is being rocked there and the criticism and rumors are flying.

Improving Communications, Leadership Lessons

Three Tips for Leaders Who Want to Keep It Real

In case you missed it, here’s a link to a great article by the Washington Post’s Alexandria Petri in which she describes how Hillary Clinton attempted to make a connection in a recent speech to the National Association of Automobile Dealers. She shared a story that since the last time she drove a car in 1996, the Secret Service hasn’t allowed her to get behind the wheel. The response, apparently, was confused crickets.

Current Affairs, Leadership Lessons

What Machiavelli Could Have Learned From Mandela

I have no idea if Mandela read Machiavelli but from everything I’ve read about the South African leader’s life, I’m pretty sure that he didn’t practice what Machiavelli preached. If, through some miracle of time travel, the two were able to have had a conversation about the practice of leadership, I think Machiavelli could have learned some things from Mandela. Here’s just one example of what he might have learned.

Current Affairs, Leadership Lessons, Personal Presence

Three Things Leaders Can Still Learn from JFK

The coverage this week of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is a stark reminder of the impact his life and death had on the United States and the world. With the perspective of fifty years, it’s easy to argue for or against Kennedy’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s easy to debate what he did or didn’t accomplish. You may think he was a great president or you may not.

Still, on this anniversary of his death, I would argue there are still some things that leaders can learn from JFK. Here (with links to JFK videos that illustrate the points) are three things that I think leaders can still learn from John F. Kennedy.

Leadership, Leadership Lessons, Personal Presence

Two Presidents, a Pope and Leadership Clarity

A couple of days ago, in the wake of the zigs and zags of the U.S. response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, I started thinking about writing a post on the points along the spectrum of clarity in leadership. Anchoring one end of the spectrum is the last U.S. President, George W. Bush. One of the seminal moments in his presidency was when he said at a press conference, “I’m the decider and I decide what’s best.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that. The problem comes when the decisions don’t turn out very well.

Leadership, Leadership Lessons, Personal Presence

The Empire Business: Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston’s Lessons for Leaders

I’m late to the party for what many claim is The. Greatest. Television. Show. Ever. Over the past couple of months, I’ve found myself really getting in to Breaking Bad. Thanks to my iPad, it’s become my late night flight obsession on the way home from business trips. I’m about halfway through Season 2 and find myself thinking about bad guys like Tuco at odd times.

Current Affairs, Leadership, Leadership Lessons

Leadership Lessons from the San Francisco Plane Crash

My friend and Georgetown leadership coaching colleague sent a thought provoking email to his friends and clients last week on the recent crash of an Asiana 777 jet liner at San Francisco International Airport. In it, Bob raises a lot of important questions for leaders and their colleagues to consider. With his permission, I’m sharing his thoughts on the Next Level Blog.

Leadership Lessons, Personal Presence

Three Ways to Increase Your Influence

Effective leadership is all about getting stuff done through and with other people. Even for the most powerful leaders (think of the President of the United States for instance) getting stuff done is more often about influence than it is authority.

In a recent conversation with a fellow executive coach and author, Joel Garfinkle, we brainstormed what influence is all about and simple, actionable ways that you can increase yours. As the author of Getting Ahead: Three Ways to Take Your Career to the Next Level, Joel has done a ton of research, coaching and speaking on the topic so he was a great guy to talk with about influence.

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