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Find the dazzle
“You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.” ~Walt Whitman This quote makes me pause. Maybe because Walt Whitman is intense – and I have to really stop and ponder all that he conveys in these few words. Maybe because it’s a...
“I shouldn’t get angry” and other myths that can negatively impact your leadership and your life
I was on the phone with a client the other day, and he was detailing a situation at work that he was quite angry about. He explained all that had happened with his new boss, and how frustrated he was. He then asked me how he could get rid of his anger, so that it was...
How to build trust
“Trust is earned a penny at a time… but spent by the dollar.” ~Unknown We spend a great deal of time with clients talking about trust. How to earn it. How to build it. How to give it. Organizations need more trust. Relationships need more trust. Teams need more trust....
Why happy leaders matter
Bottom line – we all want to be happy. As we lead our lives, our organizations, our teams, or our families, we all want to be happy. And everyone around us wants this same thing. Well, according to David Steindl-Rast, a Catholic Benedictine monk, not only do we all...
Day-to-day happiness
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.” ~Martha Washington Have you ever noticed that two people can go through nearly identical situations and have entirely different reactions? Some people seem to be...
Seven key steps to getting out of your team’s way
Early in the year I wrote about my personal vision to create better, happier workplaces and my commitment to focus on the management behaviors that lead to ideal workplaces. In the first blog post I shared the benefits of and best approaches to positive reinforcement....
What if everything were rigged in your favor?
“Live life as if everything were rigged in your favor.” ~Rumi I was talking to a client recently. He was detailing a situation that had occurred in his recent team meeting, and how he was certain that one of his colleagues was out to sabotage his most recent project....
Are you casting a shadow that makes everyone shine?
Today I reviewed 360 feedback with a client who is an emerging leader, and I was impressed with the scores he received for his level of integrity, trust, and customer focus. As we talked about the ways in which he cultivated the skills and behaviors that were...
Bounce off your bottom
“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” ~George Patton I’ve had some bottoms. And I haven’t liked them. Not while they were going on. But, aside from the bottoms that are too close for me to have an objective point of view, I can look back at nearly all...
A quick, simple brain exercise to get your day (and leadership) off to a strong start
Velcro for the bad and Teflon for the good. That is the way our brains have evolved over time, to protect us from the lion hiding behind the tree or the meteorite that might hit our planet. The problem is, there generally isn’t a lion hiding behind the tree, and if a...
Looking for wonder as a leadership lesson
“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” ~E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web) Who didn’t read – and love – Charlotte’s Web when they were young? And cry when Charlotte died? It is truly a classic, and there are many reasons why, but I believe one great reason...
Managing yourself out of the picture
I often counsel my clients to make themselves dispensable. They often question me when I suggest that, but I mean it. Part of a leader’s or manager’s role is to make sure that their team can survive without them – to manage themselves out of the picture. Now, you...
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