Leadership

What is leadership, anyway? Some people see leaders as Imperial Storm Troopers, enforcing rules and imposing their will on people. Some people see leaders as little more than cheerleaders, motivating the people who are doing real work. I used to know that leadership was telling people what to do. People go to leaders with questions, […]

We think of leadership as happening dramatically. We face a crisis, and a leader steps forward to guide us to success. Our myths and our movies show the least expected candidate emerging to save the day and become the leader we need. At a critical moment, the leader realizes they can become the leader they have

There is nothing quite like that first leadership taste in the morning. It is a wake up call that gets us going and is good to the last drop. Leadership stimulates our senses even before we taste it. We can smell the aroma of leadership in the air. There are leadership sights and sounds that get us going even

    I have been interested in leadership for longer than I can remember. What sparked that? People told me that I had leadership potential, that I could grow up to be a leader. I had opportunities to lead people. I read about leaders. None of those were where leadership began for me. My leadership was

Leading is not making sure you have covered your bases, checked all your boxes. There is always something more. Leadership is about relationships, not rules.  People can help you become the leader you have the potential to be, but they cannot give you a one-page process to master leadership in a few steps. You need to be strong to

It is easy to see leadership as something urgent and immediate. Decisions needs to be made. Performance needs to be evaluated. Goals needs to be set. Action needs to be taken. Something must be done right away; it takes a leader to get it done. We forget that leadership is not completed when we take

For some people, leadership is getting other people to do things for you. For others, leaders are people who accomplish goals. Some people see leaders as people out in front, leading the charge. Some people see leaders as conductors, orchestrating the performance of the people around them. For some, the essential quality for a leader is

Some people think that leadership is primarily about avoiding responsibility. They perceive leaders as wanting to be seen when things are going well, but hard to find when things do not go according to plan. They see people in leadership positions who are only willing to come out of their offices to take credit for other people’s work. The leaders

I know people who treat leadership as an intellectual exercise. We read about leaders and leadership. We talk about examples of leadership, analyzing and assessing. Many people study leadership, trying to distill key concepts and essential elements that strengthen leaders. We live in a time when our concept of what leadership is and how people lead

My life seldom goes according to plan. Once I saw the unplanned as an obstacle, a challenge that I needed to overcome. If only we had planned better, we would have foreseen that. If only we had been clearer, things would have gone more smoothly. The day I realized that exceeding other peoples’ expectations did not make me