Warning! It Is not my intent to make anyone mad. If you are not a Bible believing Christian, do not read further. It will only make you mad. If you are a Bible believing Christian leader, it is urgent you read this. Today’s Mindfulness Mindfulness is all the rage. It is touted as the panacea […]
Are You An Optimistic Leader: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
I. What is an optimistic leader? One of the best illustrations comes from Colin Powell. Powell says that great leaders know things will get better because they themselves will make them better. The following was drilled into Powell during his military training: “Lieutenant, you may be starving, but you must never show hunger. You may […]
Dissecting Frogs And Consistent Leadership Behavior
I earned a Bachelor of Science degree from college. To obtain this prestigious degree I had to participate in multiple labs where I performed all kinds of acts against nature. One specific laboratory action stood out: dissection. I had the joy of dissecting earthworms, frogs and fetal pigs. I would carefully cut open the animal […]
When Upper Management Becomes the Enemy: The Role Of The Heat Shield Part 2
In Part 1 the importance of and decision when to play the role of the heat shield were discussed. This post looks at how to perform the role of the heat shield in a professional manner in order to maintain the leader’s effectiveness in the organization. How Heat Is Deflected To understand this action, it […]
When Upper Management Becomes the Enemy: The Role Of The Heat Shield Part 1
Organizational Heat and Pressure “As an object encounters the atmosphere, air cannot move out of the way due to the hypersonic velocity, and instead it piles up ahead of the object and compresses into a shock wave. The gases there are compressed rapidly enough to heat up to 20,000 degrees or more, and because of […]
How The Misuse of A Key Part of Equal Employment Opportunity Killed The Search For Talent
If I were to enter the workforce today, there is no way I would be considered or hired for the jobs in which I started my career. After graduating from college with a liberal arts degree I entered the Army, went to Vietnam and came back to the states and entered the workforce with a […]
Has Your Staff Ever Pushed You Into Actions You Knew You Shouldn’t Take? The Need For Leadership Conviction
Recently I read an interesting article, “WHY IS IT SO EASY TO GET PEOPLE TO DO BAD THINGS?” http://iheartintelligence.com/2016/04/13/people-do-bad-things/. In the article, the author reviewed the Milgram experiments of the 1960’s. I quote from the author’s review of that study: “Stanley Milgram was a psychologist at Yale University. He started conducting experiments in July of […]
Should A Leader Praise A Team For Trying Hard But Finishing Second?
“It is better to have tried and lost than never to have tried at all” I was watching my last place, bumbling Atlanta Braves play the first place Dodgers. The Braves held their own on the entire series, losing two games in the 10th inning by identical 2-1 scores. In the last game a Brave’s […]
Do You Know The Difference Between An Engineer and A Manager? Caution: The Truth Hurts!
I was in a plant working on a project and one of the senior linesmen called me over to his station. When I go there he asked me if I knew the difference between an engineer and a manager. When asked him what his definition was, he told me what he had learned over the […]
Leadership Nugget #25: Forget the Feedback Sandwich. Get To Your Real Point
People tiptoe around giving feedback that others may take as negative. All types of leadership “wisdom” is provided on how to give negative feedback but unfortunately many if them only diminish the leader’s credibility by advocating the leader to play games rather than be honest and direct. Perhaps one of the dumbest techniques on how […]