“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” Voltaire (1694 – 1778) Leaders, We all self-sabotage from time to time, and it can be so automatic that we don't even realize it. However, when this rather destructive thinking continues, it causes us to flounder and draws us further into [...]
Leaders, We all have different personalities, different wants and needs, and different ways of showing our emotions. Navigating through this all takes awareness, tact and cleverness – especially as we want to succeed in our lives. This is where emotional intelligence becomes important. We probably all know people who are masters at managing their emotions. [...]
Leaders, What do you consider the biggest threat to your organization to be? Wrestling with declining revenues? Struggling with intense global competition? Or battling against disruptive new technologies? How about fear? Fear has been spreading throughout organizations – negatively impacting morale, productivity, and the bottom-line. Living in fear is destructive for a team, and kills [...]
Leaders, What would you do if there was no fear? Are you setting the stage for progress and confidence? Or are you playing it safe and waiting for the storm to pass? How present and ambitious are your goals? What is the risk of staying in your comfort zone? Are you focused on excellence? Do [...]
Trust is fundamental to all relationships. Without it, the foundation of collaboration is quicksand. Here are some examples where trust plays a familiar role, and other illustrations where the challenge is murky. A surgeon I know has an explosive temper. It gets him into a lot of trouble – in his office, in the operating [...]
Leaders, Everyone wants to be part of a workplace culture that puts a premium on delivering the real truth. Lies and secrets break trust, while honesty and transparency build trust. If trust somehow exists without transparency, this so-called trust is nothing more than an illusion because it is based on what is not real. Transparency is an essential ingredient [...]
Leaders, Complacent superiority is your biggest clue that you are in an ego trap. The ego loves to feel superior. It loves judging, and looking down on others. It loves being right, and knowing more about everything and everyone. Leaders who operate with their ego on the front burner can rub people the wrong way. [...]
Leaders, Derailment happens. It is normal. It is human. And it comes with consequences for the organization as well as yourself. Research suggests that more than 60% of senior leaders and executives derail at some point of time in their career. Also, the greatest majority of these leaders, belong to the group of 20% [...]
Today’s business world is rather exponential than linear. Speed is increasing. Many changes are of disruptive nature. Things can be true, and at the same time they can be false. What is illegal in one country could be legal in another country of the global village. There is not only one solution to a [...]
Leaders, Do you need to control everything in your business? Are your people excessively reliant on you asking your permission for every tiny detail? How do you empower your people? Do you give them credit consistently? Leadership of today is quite different from that of Caesar, Plato, the Wilhelminian time, or the post-war period. Today's [...]