Leadership Toolbox: Understanding Living Systems
All leaders, regardless of industry, position, education, or experience, have at least one thing in common: They all work with humans. In fact, leaders are humans themselves! And as frustrating as it can be, humans often behave in ways that don't make sense....
All the Tools You Need
A man was inside his house during terrible rainstorm. The streets began to flood. Terrified, he prayed to God to rescue him. As he was praying, there was a knock at the door. It was his neighbor, offering him a ride to safety. The man was too afraid to move. He...
The Error of Our Ways: Why Do So Many Leaders Try To Cover Up Their Mistakes?
(This post was first published on the blog on January 25, 2016.) One of the classic ways leaders lose credibility and create big problems is by trying to cover up their errors. Whether it is a failure of competence (not a huge deal if it's rare) or a failure of...
Thank You and I’m Sorry
(This post was first published on the blog on March 20, 2016.) Two of the important things that great leaders do well are expressing thanks and expressing apologies. Learning to give credit where credit is due and owning up to the times we need to do better are key...
Uprooting False Beliefs
There is a certain way our dysfunction manifests itself that I believe is incredibly powerful and potentially destructive: False Beliefs. Beliefs are the things we know to be true but can't prove. Beliefs drive our behavior; they can be big (like a belief in God) or...
Fear of Failure – Part 2
In my last post I shared some of my learning over many years about my overly cautious attitude toward failure. In a nutshell, I was way too conservative over much of my life, which led to learning less and achieving less than I might have otherwise if I had been more...
Fear of Failure – Part 1
You’ve probably heard about people who work with people who are dying and, in turn, learn a lot about life by listening to regrets and words of wisdom. One of these people is Bronnie Ware—an end of life nurse who chose to write down what her patients shared. This...
The Terrible Power of Anxiety
When my husband and I were engaged, we got into a car accident on the way home from seeing a movie. A blizzard had started up while we were at the theater. It was clear when we got there, an icy mess when we left. Josh lost control of his car on the ice-filmed road...
High Impact Listening
Tucked between the content on Living Systems and Leaning Into Healthy Conflict on the day we visit the jail is a segment in LEAD 365 called High Impact Listening. It is sandwiched between those two topics for good reasons. Here’s one of those reasons: Great listening...
Leading Yourself – Part 3: Rejuvenation
(This is the third of three posts on Leading Yourself. If you haven't already, you may want to read Part 1 and Part 2.) Let me share another lesson about Leading Yourself that I learned in the the last decade. I had been living at point C for about three months,...