You can surely name some great visionary leaders – maybe world famous or even better if it’s someone you’ve worked with. They’ve all had to get rid of one thing to be inspirational. Something you might not have thrown off yet. Selfishness. They may still have ego, or ambition, or…
132. Are you an Achiever?
Great leaders build legacies, not trophy cabinets. They’re motivated by the mountain, not the flag at the top. They care about what they do, not what medals they win. Most leaders spend a lifetime achieving lots of small things. Their teams do actually. Some do great things. Working to achieve…
131. How do you treat Trends?
Great teams are honest with themselves. They know what’s important and what’s not, and they don’t pretend to do things. Honesty and clarity cut through the confusion and indecision that slows down lower performers. It allows focus. Honesty is a super power. How a team deals with trends is a…
130. What do you take credit for?
There’s a key difference between team sports and individual sports. The individual gets the result and gets the trophy. A team that gets the result gets the trophy. The players, even the star players, share the credit. It’s not how many points you scored, or saved, but whether your team…
129. Why be Humble?
I heard a leadership coach talking about being an effective CEO last week. She talked passionately about creating a personal brand – defining and promoting what you stand for as an individual. Leadership, for her, was mostly defined by the perception you create in others’ minds. There’s nothing wrong with…
97. Do you Inspire?
Two stone masons were cutting a block of stone in a quarry. A passerby asked them what they were doing. “I’m cutting a stone” said the first mason. “I’m building a cathedral” explained the second. One saw what they had to do, the other could see the end result. One…
92. Do you like Attention?
Getting attention feels good. It releases Dopamine in your brain to stimulate your “reward center”. So does completing a task, or achieving a goal. Therein lies a problem that leaders have to deal with. Another game that leaders have to play. The problem is that getting attention can be easier…
87. Do you pay Attention to Detail?
The world is made of somebody’s work Leadership isn’t an abstract topic, it’s a contact sport. Contact between what the leader thinks and does, and what those in the team think & do. Between what you think and what they do… If you’re not making contact are you leading, or…
82. Be careful what you pay attention to.
You can tell a lot about an organization by the quality of the leaders it appoints. Did you ever appoint someone to a role who failed badly? Did you ever have an incompetent peer or boss and wonder how they got promoted? Did you ever fail in a role you…
3. Why DMAIC doesn’t work
Did you know that Organic Tomatoes are less good for you than non-Organic? The reason has nothing to do with the chemicals or whatever may or not be in different tomatoes, but with the fact that Organic Tomatoes are at least 40% more expensive than non-Organic. This causes demand to…