The Thoughtful Leaders™ Blog
Posted by Lisa Kohn on March 21, 2013
 I’ve spent the last week catching up with old friends. Friends from high school, college, and my job in advertising too many years ago. So I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about how lucky I am to have had, and have now, these people in my life – even the ones I don’t talk with often enough.
It makes me realize how important the people around us are. As leaders (and colleagues and parents, siblings, and friends) we get caught up in the challenges of the day, the issues that need to be solved, the office (and family) politics we have to work through, the reports that need to be written and chores that need to be done. And we forget about the people we come into contact with, even though it’s the people that make a difference in the long run. It’s the people that we’ll remember and treasure, and miss when we’re apart.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on March 14, 2013
 As parents we can be very focused on teaching our children manners and appropriate behaviors – choosing the right words, using our “inside” voices, sharing, being kind to others. But somewhere along the way we forget that those very behaviors we are instilling in our children are ones that we should remember for ourselves.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on November 29, 2012
 Last week at Thanksgiving my brother-in-law brought up the tradition, and with groans of annoyance everyone slugged through. It was a tradition I started many years ago, and firmly believe in, but I haven’t brought it up for years. I haven’t had to. Someone else always has.
We go around the table and share what we’re thankful for. It is Thanksgiving after all. And I’ve found that thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation are incredible life skills…and leadership skills.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on November 22, 2012
 My daughter and I watched an episode of The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan recently. For those of you unfamiliar, Cesar Millan is an expert in the psychology and behavior of dogs. He helps people work with and solve their dogs’ behavioral issues. On this particular show, Millan was visiting a ranch and teamed up with the Horse Whisperer, Pat Parelli, to help deal with a difficult horse and two troublesome dogs.
As I watched the “whisperers” in action I realized that the approach they took in working with the animals were very similar to the kinds of actions that great leaders employ. Is effective leadership really about being a People Whisperer? Here are a few lessons I gleaned from the whisperers:
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on October 11, 2012
 As a new mid-level executive, I felt somewhat distanced from the front-line work of my customer service team and relied heavily on my management team to keep abreast of day-to-day operations – as it should be. When results began to dip, however, I found that the managers would put up a good front in our leadership meetings, agree with my suggestions, and never offer alternative solutions. While I liked having a very supportive group of managers around me, agreeing with my decisions, I wondered what they may have not been telling me.
My office was on the same floor as the customer service center, so I began to regularly walk into the center, greet the representatives working the phones, and observe the goings-on in the center. Being more visible and accessible to team members at all levels helped me to see and hear more of what was not working well in our strategy. What I learned was the managers were ingratiating themselves to me and not giving me the hard facts about our situation.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on August 9, 2012
 In an Inc.com blog post, Geoffrey James shares The True Secret to Success. which is something we write (and speak) about frequently. Gratitude.
Geoffrey says, “if you want to be successful, you need to feel more gratitude.” Often clients (and friends) share, “well if I had something to be grateful about, I could be.” Or, “as soon as this happens it will all be good.” Often I think these things myself. But Geoffrey defines gratitude as a muscle that needs to be exercised. And offers a nightly exercise to do so.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on July 16, 2012
“A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return.” Bhagavad Gita
How often do we give gifts – whether personal gifts to friends or family members or “gifts” at work that might include offering our time, attention, information, or resources, or sharing a plum project – and expect nothing in return? Perhaps this quotation will stop you in your tracks, like it stopped me.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on May 3, 2012
 This past weekend I ran a 5K race through the Bronx Zoo – the Run for the Wild to raise funds to save the world’s lion population. It was a great run traversing up, down, and through the many trails of the zoo. On a cool morning, many of the animals were out. We saw giraffes, sea lions, African wild dogs, peacocks, and other animals.
There were runners of all abilities and stripes – thousands of us. As my husband and I ran together, it was great to see so many groups of co-workers running together, having fun, getting exercise, and raising money for a great cause. What a great formula for employee morale and engagement!
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on April 23, 2012
“There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of the ways we start many of our client engagements is with an OEA – our Organizational Effectiveness Assessment. This allows us to gather anonymous input from our clients’ employees as to what’s working at the organization, and what isn’t.
One of the workplace issues that often arise is the taking of credit and the placement of blame. It seems that way too many managers and leaders, at least in eyes of those that report to them, are too eager to take credit and too willing to place blame.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on March 8, 2012
 My daughter came home from school very excited today because she was recognized by the faculty as a Bucket Filler. “Be a Bucket Filler” has been the theme around which lots of school activities have centered this year. What is a Bucket Filler, you ask? It’s a pretty simple concept really. We all have invisible buckets that we carry around. When they are full we are happy and when they are empty we are sad. When we help others, show kindness, exhibit patience, and be nice, we fill other’s buckets. When we are mean, impatient, rude, or uncaring, we dip into their buckets.
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Peace 
Touché love your candor. We should all get back to simple straightforward leadership.
Yes, as one of my clients used to say: “It’s simple, not easy.”