Leadership Articles

Business » Leadership | By Mark Shead @ Friday, 10th November 2006 @ 6:54 PM

Many leaders assume that everyone understands their vision. Often there is a big gap between their vision and what the people they lead see as the vision. Unfortunately many leaders don't take the time to actually find out how well they have expressed their vision to their team. They often assume that because they are in charge people listen and understand what they mean to say, even if it isn't exactly what they really said. They also assume that people will hear the same thing that... more...

Business » Leadership | By Mark Shead @ Friday, 10th November 2006 @ 6:53 PM

A good leader can take a team and accomplish things that no one believed was possible. In order to do this they must make incremental changes that are challenging, but not impossible. By giving their organization a string of successes they will build momentum and attitudes that will help them overcome even difficult situations in the future. Good teachers take their students far beyond what the students think is possible in a short period of time. A good leaders do the same. Teache... more...

Business » Leadership | By Mark Shead @ Friday, 10th November 2006 @ 6:53 PM

In the army, "the men" are kept separated from those known as "the officers." This comes from the idea that the leaders should not be too close to the individuals they command. In the military this makes a lot of logical sense because if you are too close, you might have a difficult time making decisions that could result in harm to someone. On the army base they have an officers club, where the officers eat and socialize. On Sundays the facility is available to everyone, but the... more...

Business » Leadership | By Mark Shead @ Friday, 10th November 2006 @ 6:52 PM

In the U.S. education system the goal is to leave no one behind. As a result a great many graduates have never been allowed to fail. This isn't because they are actually skilled or talented. It is because the system doesn't allow for failure. Without having a chance to fail, these students are deprived of one of the most powerful ways of learning. Without having a chance to fail, students are taught to avoid failure which means they avoid risk. Teaching students to avoid risk teaches ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Tom Hanson @ Monday, 6th November 2006 @ 3:27 AM

My friend John has cancer. Has for a couple years now. I hadn't talked to him in several weeks. So I called him at home and his wife picked up the phone. I heard her say; 'John and his two sons and his dad are in South Dakota hunting. It will be his last pheasant hunting trip.' Ugh. My heart sank. I feared the worst. John's condition must have taken a bad turn and he's doing something he loves while he still can. 'I see,' I choked... more...

Business » Leadership | By Phil Morettini @ Sunday, 22nd October 2006 @ 7:26 PM

In every company's history there comes a time (or two or three or four times!) when your momentum slows, and the sales curve begins to flatten. This can be one of the most trying and frustrating times for software and technology companies. It's certainly not as difficult as the startup phase, when "crib death" is an ever present fear. And a no growth, flat revenue scenario is much preferable to declining sales combined with negative profitability that follows, which leads to a ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Paul Donihue @ Sunday, 22nd October 2006 @ 5:44 PM

Meet Snickers. She's my one year old Puggles. And I am convinced that if she were human she could really own her own company! Snickers has some wonderful business characteristics. Let me share a couple. This dog can FOCUS! Yes, I know she is only little over a year old. And she is curious! She checks out everything and nothing goes without her attention and curiosity. And when she gets interested in someone or some thing, you can't get her attention off it/them. I&... more...

Business » Leadership | By Abbas Abedi @ Saturday, 21st October 2006 @ 9:43 PM

Charisma is a person's ability to influence other people in a rather positive way. It is accomplished by connecting with them physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Charisma is all about relationship and how people regard you. Charisma can definitely be developed. Anyone can add more to his or her persona. And being charismatic has a lot of advantages. The most of common of which is the possibility of being chosen the leader of a group. There are ways you can improve yo... more...

Business » Leadership | By Tom Hanson @ Saturday, 21st October 2006 @ 8:14 AM

You may not want to have the reputation around your office of being a drill sergeant, but do you think you could benefit from learning their #1 secret for producing great results on their teams? Drill sergeants are famous for being tough. It's understandable because the stakes are as high as they get: their direct reports' lives are at stake every day. If "balls get dropped" around their office, people die. And we think we have stressful board meetings ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Saturday, 21st October 2006 @ 12:44 AM

Leaders are people who achieve results. Leaders are those whose attitudes and actions lead to positive results. Sending your staff to leadership training may not deliver the goods you're looking for! It helps them build a foundation for achieving the objectives, if they get to implement the knowledge. Big IF, some never get the opportunity. As a company we have spent time with several organizations who send people to fancy schools and programs. When I say fancy, I mean high end fa... more...

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Friday, 20th October 2006 @ 9:55 PM

In our consulting we believe that we can and will find the solutions to business problems within the organization in which we work. Often we may need to bring in an outside expert to show how others are doing work, but essentially companies have the solution at hand. Its just not acted upon, for a variety of reasons! Have you ever heard of the approach or tool called Amplifying the Positive Deviant, which was created by Jerry Sternin? Jerry and his wife, Monique, worked for the Save... more...

Business » Leadership | By John Nicholas @ Tuesday, 26th September 2006 @ 6:31 AM

"Success is 99% failure." So said Soichiro Honda the founder of highly successful Honda Motor Company. Honda is reputed to produce some of the highest quality fuel efficient cars in the world. He is also considered an innovative leader among auto manufacturers because of his concepts. In past articles I've talked a lot about success. Today I will talk bout how failure is part of success. People who always play it safe rarely succeed. The reason is that their fear of failure i... more...

Business » Leadership | By Regina Maniam @ Saturday, 23rd September 2006 @ 11:12 AM

Having good team players is key to great teams. No matter what other fancy stuff we do in the name of team building, if your team members are not good team players, managing the team will be quite a struggle. How can good team players be developed? Team players are usually the people that are known for sharing and hard work. This alone will not be sufficient as people also want to see their career progress and be recognized. Then how do you focus people towards the team goa... more...

Business » Leadership | By Kris Koonar @ Friday, 22nd September 2006 @ 11:06 PM

Business coaching is necessary for surpassing the current levels of performance and productivity. The challenges faced by todays organizations in terms of reinvention, reengineering, reorganizing and right sizing has forced them to utilize business coaching in order to compete in the current market environment. For the proper growth of any organization, it is necessary to have executives who are up-to-date with the recent trends and have beliefs, values, attitudes, motivation and thoughts that w... more...

Business » Leadership | By Ron Bates @ Tuesday, 19th September 2006 @ 8:19 PM

For some executive hiring authorities who do not have any background in Sales, it can be a challenge to really know if they are making a good hiring decision when interviewing prospective Executive Sales Leaders, Managers, or quota carrying individual contributors. Why? Because any halfway accomplished sales professional is capable of putting forward a sophisticated smoke & mirrors presentation in an attempt to close a deal. The sales process and strategic complex selling can b... more...

Business » Leadership | By John Nicholas @ Monday, 18th September 2006 @ 8:20 PM

The Japanese term "Kaizen" means the process of continuous, ongoing, small, steady incremental improvements. It's the magic of taking something good and making it great. The SECRET to leadership success is to apply Kaizen with The Law of the Slight Edge! The Law of the Slight Edge is: you don't have to be twice as good to be twice as successful. All it takes to gain the edge is to improve just 1% in many areas (maybe even 100) rather than to try to improve 100% in... more...

Business » Leadership | By Regina Maniam @ Wednesday, 13th September 2006 @ 9:13 AM

Team building is key to businesses in delivering profitability and customer satisfaction. Strange as you may think, I believe it is also key to employee satisfaction. A team is made up of a number of people charged withdoing a specific piece of work. The team is put together primarily based on the skills required as defined for the project. In the fast moving environment that we live in, the extent to which team members can work together is hardly given any consideration. It also does not... more...

Business » Leadership | By John Nicholas @ Wednesday, 13th September 2006 @ 3:31 AM

How often have you heard, "You want me to do what? Get someone else!" When you feel you're too important to help in some menial, but necessary task, you're only fooling yourself. You will never be exempt from the mundane. The upside is: that's what helps to build character to make you a stronger leader. My father used to say, "Son, no matter what you do in life whether it's mopping a floor on up to leading men in the military, if you should die doing... more...

Business » Leadership | By Lee Colan @ Tuesday, 12th September 2006 @ 1:56 AM

Most types of sports equipment like a golf club, a tennis racquet or a baseball bat have a certain spot that, if the ball hits it, will give the player the optimal result. Hitting this sweet spot yields a long drive down the fairway, a swift crosscourt return or home run swing. Every sport has a sweet spot of some type. If you have experienced it, you know when you hit the sweet spot, you barely feel it. The ball goes where you want it to go - even further and faster. Doesn't get any b... more...

Business » Leadership | By Sanjay Johari @ Thursday, 7th September 2006 @ 12:03 PM

Several years earlier I read a book which had this sentence as its title - You are born to be a leader. Since then this sentence has remained at the back of my mind. With my passing years I am realizing more intensely that everybody is a potential leader. Everyone specializes in some area and he or she is better than others at something. There is some uniqueness in everyone. At times everyone wishes or dreams of achieving something in life. Everyone tends to follow his or her inner voice.... more...