Recovering Leader

Monday LeaderTip: Perfectionism

A number of senior leaders have asked me: "What's wrong with expecting perfection, or something close to it?" Perfectionism has too many unwanted side effects—namely procrastination, resentment, and frustration. And your best people—those who learn, and are open-minded, self-motivated achievers—will not remain loyal and engaged over time if what they do is never good enough for you. Ratchet perfectionism back... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Maximizing Your Leadership Assets

An organization's leaders can operate as assets or liabilities. Unlike fixed assets, leaders can be strengthened with learning and development, and therefore yield a greater return to your bottom line. Conditions and people themselves are constantly changing, which suggests that the only way to maximize your leadership assets over time is to support their continuous learning. Yet, during challenging times... Read more →

What is Self-aware Leadership, and Why Should You Care?

It leads to sustainable effectiveness . . . Today's tumultuous conditions require leaders to master speed, turbulence, and complexity, upgrading from traditional leadership competencies to new and more flexible strategies for leading organizations. Building greater self-awareness must be a high priority. Self-awareness is not a common theme in leadership literature, and the practices that lead to it aren’t easy to... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: What's Needed Here?

A highly valuable question a leader can ask when facing a difficult situation is: "What's needed here?" Without the insights gained by asking this deceptively simple question, it’s all too easy to get mired in blame, why’s, and the how-did-this-happens of the unchangeable past. While this is human nature, it does little more than short-circuit creative problem-solving. When something flares... Read more →

Self-aware Leadership Watch: Stuck Professionally? Maybe You're A Victim

What's preventing you from doing your best work ever – right now? Some people are predisposed to answer this and other key question by blaming external conditions: the economy, their current role or organization, their boss or company, obligations to others, things that happened in the past, and the list goes on. If you tend to blame external conditions for... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Leadership and Negativity

Innovation and negativity do not tend to work well together. In order to spark progress, it's critical for leaders to notice the emotional state around them. Economic conditions, layoffs, and unemployment statistics all cause pessimism and gloom—even among accomplished professionals remaining in organizations. "I’ll just be lucky to keep my job," is an increasingly prevalent mindset that can make your... Read more →

Self-Aware Leadership Watch: Better Leading Through Chemistry

This week's self-aware leadership pitch is about the need for mastering "chemistry" or "fit," and using it in everyday leadership. Whether you're managing a troubled team, merging / acquiring, hiring, coaching performance, working with your board of directors, or finding the right role for yourself, chemistry is king. As actual clients have said: "Our leadership team and organization kicks butt... Read more →