Group Dynamic

If you’re a leader, you’re likely an expert on something.

If you’re an expert, people come to you for advice and opinion.

And you might find yourself talking and talking and talking.

Then, you realize that you’re talking too much, and listening too little.  You know better, but you’re stuck.  What can you do?

Here’s a phrase that works in nearly every situation:

I don’t know; what do YOU think?

This will force you to stop, and will dignify the people you serve, and build relationships.

But I don’t know – what do YOU think?

Sometimes, servant leadership calls for relinquishing power.  Insecure leaders look for opportunities to take power, and we know this on some level. Here’s an opportunity to Read the rest of this entry »

I ate in a London pub with a group once, and the server made a mistake when calculating the bill.  Unfortunately, he didn’t believe us, and our argument kept escalating.  I got a little, um, Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Anniversary to the most important book on leadership on my shelf.  Not only is it compelling, research-based, comprehensive, elegant, immediately applicable, and timeless; it changed my life.

Research ought to be relevant, right? So, when it was time  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve heard the word “wow” twice recently.

1) “Wow! Thanks for calling me back!” Someone called and left a voice mail; he wanted to Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Wednesday – blog day – two tidbits for you:

This rerun.

This appearance in the witty and whimsical blog of eigthsevencentral.

(It explains a bit about why I’ve been pretty busy this week…)

Four-way stops are easy, right?  Stop, then take your turn after everyone else has gone. Is it a tie? Person on the right goes first. Easy. No problem.

Does everyone totally adhere to The Rules of the Four Way Stop? I bet they think they do. But you’ve seen these… Read the rest of this entry »

In an earlier post, “Instead of…” was presented as an alternative to saying “Don’t.” “Instead of” forces you to come up with an alternative action, which is usually good.
However, if time is critical, or it’s not all that consequential, or Read the rest of this entry »

The brilliant folks at Manager Tools–specifically, Mark–have recommended this book highly for years.  I read much of it a while ago, and recently picked it up to re-read it.

In 300 words, here’s why it’s Read the rest of this entry »

Frequently, people ask me that question.  Those who ask are usually witnessing me in a professional situation; if they saw me after the alarm goes off, there’s no way they’d ask that!

But it’s true- if we lead, we have an Read the rest of this entry »

Have you seen productivity dip while creating a positive atmosphere?  There’s a likely reason, and a solution.

So much Read the rest of this entry »

A couple weeks back, I was at a presentation of Janyne Peek Emsick, and she reminded us of a great quote from Karl Lewin:

To know,
and not do,
is to not yet know.

Have you ever Read the rest of this entry »