Perspectives
Are leaders born or made?
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership attempted to answer the question of whether leaders are born or made. You can read the research here. While 52% of the respondents believe that leaders are made, fully 19% believe that people are born leaders. A further...
Leadership lessons from Survivor – It does take some skill
I must first admit that I love Survivor. I have watched every single episode, almost all of them when originally aired. Now there are two types of people who like Survivor; really stupid ones and really smart ones. I'm not sure which I am. The reason I like it is that...
Logical Incrementalism
Derek Fisher comes up with some great theories. (His last one in this blog was on his Convoy Theory.) In this video blog, Derek talks about why he delays making decisions until one really has to be made. https://vimeo.com/43540276
Influencing your peers
Last week this blog looked at a Futurestep survey and something it calls consequential impact which is essentially your ability to get things done through others. Another question the survey attempted to answer was what skills are necessary for you to have...
Are you a Debbie-Downer?
Your ability to control unexpected emotions like anger and frustration and not display other negative emotions are hallmarks of Emotional Intelligence. (I must admit that I wasn't always very good at this and I like to think that with age comes maturity.) The reason...
Is saying “Fcuk” at work a Leadership No-No?
There is a great debate in the Globe and Mail today about whether Yahoo's fired CEO, Carol Bartz should not have used the word "Fcuk" at work. (You'll have to read the article on page B14 as I can't find a link.) "Using profanity on the job can make you look...
The Manager’s Job – Henry Mintzberg
Some time ago I subscribed to Harvard Business Review (for the umpteenth time), just to get a collection of articles called Leadership Insights. The first in the collection is a reprint of Henry Mintzberg's "The Manager's Job". If you haven't read it recently, it is...
Wilbur and Orville Wright – Persistence
When you think of famous inventors, you often think of people working away in their labs, day after day, alone, producing failure after failure until they eventually succeed. Inventors are thus rightly known for their persistence. As a leadership skill, persistence is...
How do you impact your direct reports?
Back to the Futurestep survey I mentioned last week. This survey looked at something it calls consequential impact which is essentially your ability to get things done through others. Whether you manage people, projects, products or process, you'll need to get things...