Anytime I train professionals in leadership, I will always get a handful of questions during the course that start something like this: "What do you do if your team leader is not …" or "What do you do if you manager is not …" The dot-dot-dot portion is some form of...

Recall the questions we are addressing in challenging situations or tough negotiations: - What is the person's position or belief? - Why are they taking that position? - How can I connect with or engage them to move them from that position? - Can I/we find a...

In the last month, I've taught a couple leadership classes, one on leading with cultural competence and the other on general leadership with a focus on influence and business acumen. One topic that came up in both classes - and typically comes up in any leadership...

A colleague recently sent me the following Forbes on-line article … "The #1 Reason Leadership Development Fails" (here's the Link). It's a short article and a quick read. The gist of the article is that the reason leadership development fails is "training". To...

I was listening to a radio talk show recently, and the host/leader and his team were reminiscing about the early days of the show and some of their struggles. One of the team members brought up an incident where several years earlier the host asked the team member to...

I recently saw the documentary "Won't You be My Neighbor" which chronicles the life of Fred Rogers and the making of his children's television show, "Mister Rogers Neighborhood", which aired in the United States on public television from 1968 to 2001. The documentary...

Last week I attended the Global Leadership Summit (GLS). It was two days of talks and discussions with established leaders in many professions. There were many excellent sessions and lots of great perspectives, lessons and stories from inspiring leaders. There's much...

I attended a fairly typical high-school commencement ceremony last month. Like others, this event included many short speeches from both students and adults including the valedictorian, the salutatorian, the principal, the school president, the student council...

It's FIFA World Cup time and I recently read an article that prompted some thinking and reflection around leadership and sports. The article, titled Sergio Ramos, the World Cup and the Benefits of Bad Sportsmanship, appeared in the online version of the Wall Street...

Today is Father's Day in the United States and many other countries. Just as all parents and guardians are critical in guiding and teaching their children as they grow and mature, so it is true how effective leaders need to invest time and energy in the development...