Dynamic Duos: How Introverts and Extroverts Create Breakthrough Results
What do these famous pairs have in common? Lennon and McCartney Burns and Allen Jobs and Wozniak Lerner and Loewe Siskel and Ebert They are all dynamic duos: extrovert - introvert pairs who created something together that neither of them would...
Help is Not Always Helpful
If you interrupt the struggle of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, it will be crippled for life. How do you know when to offer help and when to let someone to struggle (and possibly fail) in order to grow and learn? Thursday Thoughts: Help is not always helpful....
The 8 Portals of Influence: How to Lead Without Authority
I am delighted and honored that Tanmay Vora created this Sketch Note of "The 8 Portals of Influence," described in more detail in my blog How to Influence Without Authority. In today's complex world, leaders need to develop multiple channels of influence. These...
3 Guidelines to Avoid Resistance to Change
People don’t resist change. Change is a normal and natural part of living. The only time you stop changing is when you’re dead. What people resist is having change imposed on them. Here are three guidelines to invite people to participate in the change process, and to...
The Best Way to Listen
The most powerful gift you can give another is your undivided attention. When the best techniques don't work, simply close your mouth and pay attention. The best way to listen is with your mouth shut. This poem, written almost 50 years ago, is as relevant today as it...
How to Deal With a Steamroller Personality on Your Team
In this guest post, Mike Figliuolo explains how to deal with a steamroller personality, one of the personalities described in his new book, Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results. Heather joined your team a year ago. You hired...
3 Approaches to Culture Change: What Works
You can’t “do” culture change to your organization. Culture arises from the beliefs and underlying assumptions held by the people in the organization. Trying to change culture by decree or through training programs won’t affect people’s beliefs. One way to change the...
Manage Your Polarities or They Will Manage You
Do you ever hear a little voice in the back of your head saying things like: look before you leap … or ... two wrongs don’t make a right … or ... if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? We all have tapes running in the background that guide our actions. If you...
How to Set the Right Goals and Make Them Work for You
Are you starting to lose focus on your goals? If so, you're not alone. This is the time of year a lot of people lose their focus. The problem is that annual goal-setting doesn't work. You can't plan an entire year and know in advance all the goals you will need to...
Confessions of an Extrovert: We Need Understanding, Too
Dear Introverts, It’s nice that people are appreciating you so much more these days and showing how to build on your quiet strengths. But we extroverts are also often misunderstood, and we need champions, too – people who will stand up for us and challenge common...
How Managers Can Solve the Problem of Employee Retention
Employees are not a replaceable commodity. According to recent research, the tide has turned and employee retention has become a critical issue for organizations. One of the easiest and most effective ways keep top talent is through “stay interviews,” developed by Bev...
The 10 WORST Popular Leadership Quotes
Great leadership quotes inspire and guide us. They become part of our mainstream language and instilled in our culture. We accept them as a reflection of the ideal, aspire to live them and use them when teaching others about leadership. But sometimes a quote takes...