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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
I often run into employers who don’t understand why their team building activities don’t work. Despite spending money on professional team building, their teams still have trouble collaborating and don’t seem any better for it. I think back to a situation at an investment firm I worked with. In order to build teamship, the company sent teams off on a corporate retreat where the employees were asked to participate in a “trust fall” exercise. When the employees were told about […]
Over the last few decades, we’ve seen more and more corporate leaders leave in disgrace due to ethical and legal violations. The need to be ethical in business has taken on a new level of urgency in today’s economic climate. With CEOs doing everything from fudging their resumes to committing outright fraud, these highly publicized cases have caused some of the nation’s top leadership schools to take notice and act to prevent such incidents in their newly-minted graduates[1. “A Promise […]
What do you picture when you think of mentoring? Chances are, it is a grizzled, gray-haired elder, with more winters behind them than ahead, taking a young upstart under their wing and instructing them in the ways of business, baseball, or life in general. That’s the traditional idea, and while it is often the case, that model fails to take into account the incredible diversity of experience and expertise in the world. There is no linear progression of learning, and […]
When choosing new leaders, one of the first things employers often zero in on is charisma. The problem with this is that those good people skills don’t necessarily translate into good leadership skills. While charisma is certainly a wonderful trait to possess in a leadership position, there might be another, more fundamental character trait that you should be looking for in your leaders. Humility.
Very few people enter into an argument thinking they’re wrong. In fact, the more I believe I’m right, the harder I fight to get what I want. But is it always the best strategy? Regardless of who is right, are there larger goals that a conflict resolution strategy should be serving? It can be tempting to try to win every fight, or to settle disputes through a hardline approach each time. But conflict – or the wrong resolution – can […]
Imagine your favorite football team drafts a great quarterback out of college. All summer long, and through the preseason, he is coached on how to beat the first opponent in the regular season, and is prepared for whatever challenges he might face. Right after the first game, the coach turns to him and says, “Kid, now you’re on your own,” and never gives him any more advice. You’d be horrified. No matter how well-trained someone is, the field changes through […]
Inspiration for leadership comes in a lot of forms. Some people get inspired by reading memoirs of great generals or titans of business. Others go to conferences, where they hear influential speakers and converse with their peers about winning techniques. Sometimes it’s just trial and error. But there’s also another way to take inspiration for your own leadership strategies. Sometimes, all you have to do is look around at the world, see what other people are doing, and say: “Nope.” […]
Mentorships are, in their essence, about how the past and present interact with the future. They are about taking accumulated wisdom, both personal and institutional, and giving it to the next generation of workers. The process is more complex than that, though. Mentoring isn’t about presenting hidebound and static wisdom, but about adapting the wisdom to contemporary and future challenges. It is strange, then, that so many mentorship programs are static, and focus only on one style of mentorship. Certain […]
At some point or another, we’ve all probably worked under a toxic leader. Whether they micromanaged your every move (“15 minute intervals for time reporting seems too lax–let’s move to 10”) or were unresponsive to your feedback (“I don’t have time to read all the suggestions that fly at me everyday; we have deadlines to meet!”), leaders can develop harmful habits in their leadership style that they need to recognize and correct before it hurts employee morale and impacts productivity. […]