In their book The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner explain that, ‘Leadership begins with a belief in yourself and continues only if other people believe in you.’ To believe in you, people have to know (1) who you are and what you stand for, and (2)...
Common Patterns in Leadership During my years of leadership consulting I have met far too many leaders who are acting either from a fear-based niceness or with a heartless ‘professional’ aggression. They have not mastered mindful compassion, nor are they enabling...
Tough Feedback and Reactive Behaviors We all have a hard time accepting tough feedback. We all want to be seen for our best qualities, and we want to defend, explain and justify our weaknesses. When avoiding accountability, we typically engage in one or more of these...
For leaders, gratitude is a catalyst for recognition. It makes us constantly look for the good in people and feeds our desire to share our gratitude for a job well done. It is a light we carry with us that people are drawn to because they feel good about themselves...
Without total honesty, holding people accountability remains largely a theory. The fear, however, is that total honesty will damage relationships and alienate people—and that means disharmony and disengagement. In my experience, leaders typically feel a tug-of-war...
Research shows that the number one characteristic people want from their leaders is honesty. Leaders struggle with being honest with themselves, however, because of our propensity to hide parts of ourselves from ourselves. As Carl Jung, one of the fathers of modern...
