Leadership Articles

Business » Leadership | By Richard Cox @ Friday, 14th March 2008 @ 11:52 PM

A transformational leader has a profound impact on those they interact with. This is due to the unique and authentic way that they are within themselves and with others. If you study leadership in general, there has been a progression of leadership types, from trait, behavioral, theory, situational, transactional and then transformational. Transformational leadership is one of the more recent developments in the evolution of leadership, and has an high moral element to it. This is... more...

Business » Leadership | By Richard Cox @ Friday, 14th March 2008 @ 11:48 PM

After studying Transformational Leadership for a while, you may come to the conclusion that there are a lot of technical things to remember to do, and even then you might not get it right. So what is the magical ingredient to leading that makes it work? Well first of all, you probably know by now that there is no magic wand for life, or for leadership greatness. We can follow in the footsteps of those that came before us, and yet we might still not succeed. Anyone that has ever a... more...

Business » Leadership | By Thomas Fox @ Thursday, 13th March 2008 @ 4:28 PM

Do you often feel refreshed and rejuvenated after you get out of the shower in the morning? Ever wonder why people find themselves so happy they spontaneously start singing in the shower? The answer is negative ions. Showers disperse water in such a way that they generate negative ions, which are scientifically proven to elevate your personal sense of well-being. Conversely, computer monitors create positive ions, which just might be adding to your work-related stress levels. According to... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Thursday, 6th March 2008 @ 2:58 AM

"The best defense is a good offense." --Various When circumstances turn hostile for the current direction, most organizations will focus on defending themselves from the effects of the changed environment rather than on reaching out to adapt to the new situation, which creates a diversion from progress and growth. The discussion of defensive postures and how to overcome them presented in this article is intended to help you see the advantages of seeking out new paths when the goi... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Thursday, 6th March 2008 @ 2:50 AM

Minimizing the importance of any related problems or to trying to cover them up are the two most common defensive postures for dealing with irresistible forces. You can always find someone to convince you that there really is no problem even when there is one. And since the bearers of bad news often fear blame or punishment, they prefer to keep quiet about problems. Either way, you end up with your head in the sand and your vulnerable flanks exposed. Intel learned this les... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Thursday, 6th March 2008 @ 2:49 AM

New circumstances are most often first perceived as a threat when budgeted profit or cash flow objectives are not met. Since such potential shortfalls are happening somewhere almost all the time in enterprises, the organization's first reaction is to look for relatively painless ways to cut costs to overcome the shortfall. This tendency is reinforced by the likelihood that all the senior people in the company receive much of their annual bonus for meeting budgeted results. This so-... more...

Business » Leadership | By Rick Hubbard @ Tuesday, 4th March 2008 @ 5:31 PM

Building a Network Marketing Business is not so much about managing people as it is about leading others. You can manage from a very selfish vantage point but to maintain longer term leadership demands the ability to be others oriented. It means you do what is best for the people. It has been noted that "the extent to which you are able to transform your self-concern into other-concern will determine your effectiveness in getting others to follow along." Often the role of the lea... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Tuesday, 4th March 2008 @ 3:17 PM

Irresistible forces can leave you feeling helpless. When that occurs, you are often vulnerable because inaction is often worse than a poor action. How can you find a helpful path? Answering the following questions is intended to help you see alternatives where you might otherwise feel helpless in the face of irresistible forces. How can this setback become the best thing that ever happened to your enterprise? In the case of a faulty product, for example, you have th... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Tuesday, 4th March 2008 @ 3:13 PM

Your biggest customer calls to say that the firm is going into bankruptcy and won't be able to pay the six month's worth of outstanding invoices. You wish him well and hold your head in pain. An hour later, you discover that your plant is in violation of OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) standards. You have to pay a large fine and buy millions in new equipment before you can restart operations. If that weren't enough, your lawyer calls to say that ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Tuesday, 4th March 2008 @ 3:10 PM

A number of years ago I was asked to help a struggling business overcome setbacks created by increased global competition, adverse cost trends, unfavorable currency rates, and weak leadership. Looking closely at the operations, I saw that within the weak operation was a kernel of strength: Huge profits could be gained by cutting back the product line by 95 percent, and great amounts of cash flow would be generated as well. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) was ready to take action, but he... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Monday, 3rd March 2008 @ 7:17 AM

There may be no stronger source of unhappy surprise than having the customers' and community's perceptions of your products and services suddenly turn from positive to negative with no warning. Perhaps a television program runs an expose about the safety of your product, testing it in ways that you have never considered or are inappropriate. Or suddenly the government imposes a new standard, and your product has to be phased out in its current form. If you didn't anticipate the... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Monday, 3rd March 2008 @ 7:14 AM

Like Captain Kirk on the Starship Enterprise in the Star Trek television series, movies and books, you should spurn helplessness and believe that there is always a positive way out of a difficult or unexpected situation. Your job is to find and take that way out. As a cadet at Starfleet Academy, the fictional James Tiberius Kirk was once faced with a problem to solve for which there was no positive alternative included. The purpose of the problem was to see how the cadets handled a se... more...

Business » Leadership | By Steve Albright @ Monday, 3rd March 2008 @ 5:52 AM

Recent evidence has shown that there is a Personality Profile for someone who can be called a natural born leader. In this personality profile there are a set of innate characteristics that can be studied and learned by those who feel they are inadequate in a leader ship position. A natural born leader can effectively convey confidence, assertiveness, boldness, responsibility, and leadership. Time and time again great leaders will test high for these psychological traits; the results ar... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Monday, 3rd March 2008 @ 4:26 AM

People who feel helpless often react that way because they cannot locate any acceptable alternatives in their own minds. A good way to circumvent that problem is to find others who have had similar problems, and ask them what they would do in your situation. Undoubtedly, you'll get some ideas, and then you can test the more plausible ones on a limited basis to find out which ones actually work. Alan G. Robinson and Sam Stern report that the Japanese national railway company w... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Sunday, 2nd March 2008 @ 7:05 PM

The Helplessness Stall often follows the Wishful Thinking Stall. Here's an example of how that can occur. Sales and earnings at a large retail chain had been declining for years. The chain's executives were continually forecasting a turnaround that never came -- that's the wishful thinking beginning of this painful example. After a decade of steadily sinking performance and continuing layoffs, the company's morale had reached the bargain-basement level. Optim... more...

Business » Leadership | By Perry Burns @ Sunday, 2nd March 2008 @ 6:48 PM

The big buzz in the Learning and Development community is about Leadership development. "If only we could train good leaders," goes the argument, "we could be beat the world" This belief is so well ingrained that hardly anyone stops to question it. But when you step back for a second, there are a number of huge questions. For example: 1. If leaders need training, who trained Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin? 2. If leaders can be easily trained, why are there any... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Sunday, 2nd March 2008 @ 6:42 PM

That hot-footed cat is ready to jump as soon as its paws get too hot. You should be too. The best ways to be able to move away from a mistake about an irresistible force are to keep your commitments as low as possible for as long as possible and to have contingency plans in place. How can your commitment to pursuing benefits from the irresistible force be kept low, without harming your opportunities? Many people will dive headfirst into the opportunity, but you may be ab... more...

Business » Leadership | By Donald Mitchell @ Sunday, 2nd March 2008 @ 6:41 PM

"The only limit [to] our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." --Franklin Delano Roosevelt Being buffeted by strong and conflicting irresistible forces can be a little bit like being the proverbial little Dutch boy who notices that the dike is leaking. The child can staunch the leak or go for help. Which should be done first? In the story, he stops the leak with his finger and so must wait for someone to come by who can go for help. In reality, many bus... more...

Business » Leadership | By Marcia Granger @ Saturday, 1st March 2008 @ 4:32 PM

Leadership is process; it is continually in motion. Management is the product of that process, as well as its saviour. Left to itself, movement would travel on into infinity, there would be no boundary, no brakes. Structure provides movement with a framework within which to move without overreaching itself. Management grounds leadership by setting up and maintaining the systems which provide any organization with coherence, with continuity and sense, with the weight required to prevent it... more...

Business » Leadership | By Bill Loyd @ Friday, 29th February 2008 @ 2:23 PM

Some years ago, I was a general manager for a large restaurant chain. I and the other general mangers were in a restaurant that had just been newly remodeled. As we were getting ready for the meeting someone brought in a box of those powder-sugar covered donuts. The box was placed on a large round booth table and everyone began to take one. At that moment my boss asked me to speak to him for a moment and discuss a potential candidate for general manager out of the assistant managers available. ... more...