Blind Spot Leadership
All Leaders have Blind Spots! Learning to detect and avoid problems caused by leadership blind spots is every leader’s responsibility.
Discovering theRule of Awkward Silence
Justin Bariso recently wrote an article entitled "Why Brilliant Minds Embrace the Rule of Awkward Silence". Bariso often writes on the theme of EQ and explains the rule this way: "The rule is simple: When faced with a challenging question, instead of answering, you...
The Growing Value of Transparency
One of the things I value highly in leadership is transparency. I love the dictionary.com definition of the figurative meaning of transparency: a state in which things are free from any attempt to hide something. Living in a state or condition where things are free...
Creating a Working Atmosphere
Sometime this last week the Lobster from the Little Mermaid started saying "First you have to set the mood" in my head. It was probably a direct result of spending a week with 8-10 year old kids at a camp I co-led. But this advice from Sebastian (the lobster) is...
How to NOT take Vacation
I don't do vacation well. This is unfortunate, because I want to do vacation well. It would be great to be one of those guys sitting on the beach with a book (or Kindle) in hand. I love going to a museum and spending hours surrounded by beauty. Sitting in a Café...
Treasure Hunting
My morning ritual starts with a bowl of Musli, a cup of coffee, and bro. wsing several news sites. This morning I came across this story: Missing treasure hunter's remains found in New Mexico. In short, an author and art dealer named Forrest Fenn hid $2 million...
When someone misses a deadline…
No matter how well you plan, your plans are often dependent on other people following through on their commitments. I'm currently dealing with the aftermath of a busy week, complicated by people missing deadlines. We took on an extra project that we knew would make...
Pleasing Everyone All of the Time
I remember the first time I read through Aesop's Fables. The talking animals and the simple life lessons fascinated me. As an adult, I continue to enjoy many of these short little stories with a meaning and a moral. Many of the lessons are more poignant now that I...
Mistaking Cowardice for Compassion
Compassion is, according to Miriam Webster "a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc.". Cowardice is "fear that makes you unable to do what is right or expected : lack of courage." The words are pretty different, but I often find that...
Mistakes – How you handle them is key!
Mistakes Happen! Most leaders discover fairly early that mistakes happen. I remember my first "major" mistake as a youth pastor. It was not really that big of a mistake. Someone had asked me shortly before the service started if I would announce something. I said I...
The Window and the Mirror
Last week about arrogance versus confidence. After having been accused of being arrogant, I had to start to to develop a leadership approach that I felt was more in line with how I wanted to lead and have my leadership perceived. I began reading books about...