Category: Leadership

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Man (or Woman) in the Mirror: When Do You Fire the Boss?

National Football League Hall of Fame star Mik...
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The San Francisco 49ers fired their head coach Mike Singletary yesterday.

I don’t know Singletary, but have followed his career since 1985 when I lived in Chicago for five years (comprising what I refer to as the longest decade of my life) and he played for the Chicago Bears.

Singletary was an undersized, underpowered linebacker who played with lots of smarts and heart, and it’s no coincidence that the Bears won a Super Bowl and were highly competitive with him on board.… Read the rest

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What Do You Do When a Board Seat Beckons?

It may simply be that time of year but I’m being “soft vetted” for board of director / board of trustee seats.

And whether the board seat is for an organization that is for-profit or for non-profit, there are things some things that anyone – you, me, or anybody else – should do.

Soft vetting is remeniscient of grade school (“If you did have a crush on someone in class who would it be?… Read the rest

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(More) Risky Business: How to Leap Tall Buildings

Sometimes the greatest risk you can take is to take no risk at all.

Or as James Dean phrased it, “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”

Three events this week brought that thought squarely home.

  1. A colleague who was nudged out of his role with a firm asked for more separation pay than the organization indicated it customarily offered.
… Read the rest
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Wall Street Journal “Bosses Overestimate Their Managing Skills”

“Feedback,” according to leadership guru Ken Blanchard, “is the breakfast of champions.” If that’s the case, judging by a recent survey published by the Wall Street Journal, managers are either starving or eating sugar coated Ding-Dongs at breakfast.

Great feedback involves a receptive mind wanting feedback, and people with the ability to describe behaviors, impact, and qualitative value (e.g. not-so-effective, very effective, lousy).… Read the rest