Leadership

Without a foundation of trust, your efforts will be in vain.

Boards prefer executives who are amicable, but that's not what drives results.

Imagine that you had 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes at the next executive staff meeting to get your message across. Would you be able to focus your...

Leaders of the past almost always seem more effective than those of today. It's a perceptual bias: We long for what we don't have, and mythologize what...

Instead of focusing on who’s “ahead,” focus on who’s actually best-suited to the top job.

The corporate president stared out the window of his skyscraper office. His forehead was furrowed in anger and puzzlement. His fingers drummed the arm of his chair with a speed that signified intense frustration. The other executives in the room waited expectantly. Each had said his piece. Each had come to his and her own […]

Don't ignore emotions.

Companies routinely squander their most precious resource--the time of their top executives. In the typical company, senior executives meet to discuss...

For most of us, starting at a new company brings up those same anxieties we felt when starting in a new school as a child. All of a sudden you don't have...

This post was co-authored with Holly Newman. Here in the U.S., the Super Bowl this weekend showed us the power of 30-second advertisements, and how influential...

Research shows a personal touch matters.

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

Last week, there was a wonderful essay in The New York Times about a leadership program created by the old Bell System back in 1952. The all-powerful telephone company worried that its executives needed a broader perspective, not just on business but also on society, even life itself. “A well-trained man knows how to answer […]

Organizational culture powerfully influences a company's performance - or at least we say so. I often hear executives reassure me that projects will get...

On this blog, I’ve speculated on the factors that lead to highly talented women dropping out of their once-chosen careers and thus not being available to take the next step, leading to one consequence that these folks are not available in the pool of candidates for top jobs. With this as backdrop, it was fascinating […]

They keep things fresh and fair.

To get yourself and your team off to a good start for the new year, focus on progress. Our research discovered that fostering progress in meaningful work is the most important way to keep people highly engaged at work — even if that progress is a “small win.” We call this phenomenon the progress principle; […]

You never know what’s going to inspire you to think about leadership? In particular, I was surprised that a Dolly Parton record did it for me. Her new song, “Better Get to Livin’,” offers insights that every leader ought to keep at the ready. The song, the lead track of her latest album Backwoods Barbie, […]

Lt. Col. Todd Henshaw, director of leadership studies at the United State Military Academy at West Point, recently spent two months in Afghanistan helping to create the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA). In the second of two posts, Henshaw explains the challenge of finding and developing leaders in Afghanistan. His comments are in quotation. […]