Leadership author and speaker
Leadership author and speaker
This week I’m pleased to bring you my guest post on The Outbound Collective. Be sure to click the link and show them some love! My mom was a prolific writer and tried mightily to get her short story published about the vacations she used to take with her 4 siblings and her mom and dad […]
A positive leader is a real strength to an organization. In fact, learning how to deal with adversity and leading people through it is one of the most important skills leaders must develop. Some people are so successful that when they eventually fail at something, that failure becomes an existential crisis for them. Organizations are […]
One of the questions I get most often is, “How do you read all your email?” With multiple email accounts, many stakeholders and customers, and working in a global enterprise I get dozens of emails daily. Despite the fact that I believe email is dead–Professional Social Networks are the future–we all do a lot of business […]
This week, the Friday Link Around takes on a slightly different focus – we explore what “culture” means to leaders. Leading organizations both large and small demand the creation of a cohesive culture of shared ideas and values. For startups, the transformation from “five guys in a garage” to a staff of dozens of employees […]
Career development and mentoring are the themes for this week’s Friday Link Around. I was excited to once again facilitate the Society of American Military Engineers Young Member mentoring session at this year’s Joint Engineering Training Conference (JETC 2016). It was a fantastic session using live polling and hands-on activities with over 150 engineers, architects, […]
When reaching the end of their careers, military veterans are often faced with difficult questions. There are, of course, the practical considerations of finances and family, but the biggest question for the vet is not where he’ll live or how he’ll make his living. The biggest question for the retiring vet is what’s my purpose? […]
It’s graduation time! Graduation pictures are appearing on my Facebook feed: smiling grads and proud parents. In honor graduation day for so many, this week’s Link Around is all about the grad. Top 10 Commencement Speeches Time Mag: Graduation gift ideas George Saunders has excellent advice: be kind Inspirational quotes for graduates Buzzfeed: 31 Grad Party […]
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day! If you’re reading this and haven’t done something to honor your mom yet, you still have two days! My Mom was always a strong presence in my life and my family–and along with what my Dad she taught me a great deal about how to be successful in life. […]
This week I had the great priviledge to be in Canberra, Australia on ANZAC Day. If you’re not familiar, ANZAC Day is a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand and observed throughout the British Commonwealth. It originally commemorated the Australia New Zealand Army Corps landings and subsequent battles at Gallipoli, Turkey during the First […]
Last weekend I was honored to participate in the Inaugural Intentional Leadership Conference, held by the Hollingsworth Leadership Development Program at Texas A&M University. The Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M has a long and proud tradition of leadership development, and I’m certain the ILC will add to that tradition! Be sure to “Like” their […]
The leadership lessons I learned as a member of the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets were among the most formative of my military career. That’s me and my buddies after we marched past the reviewing stand at Final Review. We’d be leaving the Corps and each other following that Review. I certainly continued to learn […]
It’s Holy Week in the Christian calendar, so this week’s links are all about Easter. As a trivia, history, and liturgy “geek,” I think this stuff is interesting so I’m bound in my geekness to share it with you! The days of Holy Week have their own names, beginning with Spy/Holy Wednesday, then Holy Thursday […]
I’m proud to be an Airman…and among the reasons for that are because other Airmen gave me reason to be.
I spotted this great article from People Development Mag on leading teams and wanted to share! I like their model: and it closely resembles my own: Says Ms Shafer: When initiative, productivity, creativity and execution are lacking, the costs to the team can be very real. The tangible results can be a lackluster […]
“There is a great cost when you neglect the human connection point in business.” – Susan Steinbrecher, CEO, Steinbrecher And Associates, Inc. I’m a firm believer in the human element in business and in life. After all, the reason we build things, make products, and provide services is for other people. Without “heart”, then we don’t […]
The pandemic, politics, social turbulence – all are challenges to modern leaders to keep their teams motivated and on mission.
One of my core tenets is leaders must give teams a sense of mission: In my book Leading Leaders, I recount the story of a friend of mine who took over leadership of a volunteer re-sale shop. “She and her leadership team began by listening to the volunteers and addressed their personal concerns about the […]
Via Stars And Stripes Thanksgiving is among America’s most popular holidays, a time for food, family and football in celebrations that date back to the earliest days of the nation. In fact, the history of Thanksgiving is more complicated than the national myths about “Turkey Day.” Here are some facts about the holiday that you […]
Over at Small Wars Journal, there’s an article about the Head-Hands-Heart Leadership Model that fits hand-in-glove with my own “Leading Leaders” philosophy. It’s a thoughtful and well written article about the basics of leadership: know yourself, know your people, know where you’re going. Leading people is a “whole person” kind of endeavor: we have to […]
Too often leaders focus all their energy on process. There’s only so much gas in the tank, and there’s usually tremendous pressure to perform. The nuts and bolts of the business can consume leaders’ time to the detriment of taking care of the people who are actually doing the work. Effective leaders are able to […]