Posts Tagged ‘being a person worth following’
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 character (a much bigger deal,…
Read MoreLeaning Into Healthy Conflict
When you think back on your year in LEAD 365, do you remember the number one thing I hoped all participants would learn? If LEAD 365 alums could only be better at one thing when compared to non-alums, do you remember what I hoped that one thing would be? My hope is that all LEAD…
Read MoreThe Care and Feeding of Leadership
Take your time. It is the fastest way to achieve your goal. At the end of LEAD 365, many of you were given a bonsai tree. We gave you the tree to remind you that leadership takes ongoing care in order to flourish, much like the tree. But there are even more parallels to great…
Read MoreHow Flexible Are You?
Fellow Leaders, I’ve always enjoyed being active—running, hiking, biking, strength-training and sports have been routines for me since I was young. But something changed about 10 years ago. I started to get plagued with injuries. I hurt my back, my neck, my calves, and several muscles and ligaments. Though I didn’t like it, I figured…
Read MoreHow to Get Clear on Your Growth as a Leader
Hello Leaders, My office in Grand Haven is owned by an accounting firm. My heart goes out to these men and women during tax season as they work seven days a week, on very little sleep, from now until April 15. One of the greatest fears the rest of us have is to discover we are being…
Read MoreTrust (Again?)
You may be wondering, “Why are we talking about trust again?” The simple answer is that everything we do with others is built upon this one word. Think of the pain created when we absolutely don’t trust someone. Something has created question marks in our mind around their competence, reliability, what is true, etc. When…
Read MoreVulnerability and Courage
I’m no psychiatrist but I’ve always been intrigued by the things people do and why they do them. Out of this curiosity, and over many years of observations, I’ve come to my own theories, or even beliefs, about people’s make-up. It is from these observations and desire to understand people that the DoKnowBe Tree came…
Read MoreAre You Like Most People?
Dear fellow listeners, Here is a fun quiz: the phrase “seek first to understand, then to be understood” comes from which of the following? The LEAD 365 segment on high impact listening. The LEAD 365 segment on leaning in to healthy conflict. Steven Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. All of the…
Read MoreA Great Leader and a Great Speech
Leaders, We have an unusual posting for you this week. Last week was “V Week” for those of us who enjoy college basketball. “V Week” is named for Jimmy V, also known as Jim Valvano. Valvano was a great college basketball coach who got terminal cancer and gave an amazing speech at the ESPY Awards in…
Read MoreTop 10 Trust Walk Takeaways
All of you who have been on the two-day retreat as a part of building great teams have done the trust walk. My favorite part of that exercise is not the first part when there is no talking; it’s not the second part where you can talk but the one person is still blindfolded. My favorite part…
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