Leadership
Failed military battles produce some of our best leadership lessons. In hindsight it becomes clear whether it was simply a lack of resources, a flawed strategy, a superior enemy or a series of unforced leadership errors. Errors like a lack of preparation or poor decision making and communication can often be traced back to pride, overconfidence and fear. Usually these errors are not the result of a single mistake in thinking or action, but a series of cascading miscalculations and leadership behaviors.
In David McCullough’s book, Pioneers,about the settling of the Ohio Valley after the American Revolutionary War, he chronicles a…
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Leadership
What if I am wrong? What if the one thing that I am promoting, advocating, and even “betting the ranch” on might actually turn out to be completely wrong. Like a recurring nightmare where the foundational understanding and assumption doesn’t hold up and the whole plan or endeavor is doomed to failure. There is no shortage of historic blunders where leaders were blinded to this possibility and led their followers wholeheartedly into disaster.
And yet, leaders who start off meetings or even worse pre-launch motivational speeches with, “last night it occurred to me that our whole approach is quite possibly built…
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Leadership
Are you a giver or a taker? Or perhaps a matcher who operates on the principle of reciprocity? Most of us might respond, “it depends.” In relational settings like family and community we would like to be the thought of as a giver. Though upon careful reflection and some honest feedback we might discover even among loved ones we are, at best, a matcher. But perhaps in the more competitive areas of our life, like work, we would be more comfortable being labeled a matcher or even a taker. In those competitive environments we probably feel that being a giver…
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Leadership
There are random events, conversations, and songs that trigger nostalgic feelings. At those times we tend to remember impressions or moments from the past much more than a clearly defined timeline of everything that happened. Even though the memories are incomplete and probably not wholly accurate, they are emotionally powerful. In the Heath brother’s latest book, The Power of Moments, they explore why certain moments not only stay with us but shape us as well.
We tend to remember the best or worst moments of an experience (the peak) and the ending (peak-end). When people recall…Read more.
Leadership
“Setting oneself on a predetermined course in unknown waters is the perfect way to sail straight into an iceberg.” Henry Mintzberg
Adam Smith, often cited as the father of modern capitalism, introduced the idea of an economic “invisible hand” that helps demand and supply in a free market to reach equilibrium. Smith argued that market forces naturally do the necessary work to keep economies in balance. One of the great debates among economists is how much economic intervention is healthy and necessary. At what point do government policies bolster and at what point…
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