In a moment of crisis, when things seem to be most falling apart, be it after a Katrina-like event, market collapse, or a 9-11 terror, the public turns to its leaders for a sense of reassurance.  These are times when leaders have to be smart about how they present themselves.  They have to make a calculated decision about not simply about what they’re going to do, but how they will present themselves.
This decision leaders make …

Leaders are often drawn in different directions: cost savings versus innovation; excellence versus equity; universal health-care versus a balanced budget. One of the great challenges for understanding Abraham Lincoln is what appears to many a central inconsistency. What was his main priority? Was he a unifier or emancipator?
How did Lincoln make judgments and maneuver through this apparent inconsistency. Lincoln, like all leaders, had a series of embedded complexities. On one hand he had a belief …

A good idea is not good enough. Good ideas don’t have wings and they don’t take off without a support base.
In the following podcast I discuss how great leaders rely on the skills of execution rather than the strength of an idea or vision.
I take a look at the leadership style of Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln and ask what was key to their successful leadership.

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When you draw a shortlist of “great” leaders, Winston Churchill always appears near the top. When you delve even further and ask people to give examples of historical figures who’ve dealt with crisis Churchill appears shoulder-to-shoulder with Lincoln.
The history of Churchill raises a whole series of leadership questions, especially around the question of contingent leadership. What type of leadership style is appropriate for what particular moment in history? A close examination of Churchill focuses us …

1. As Bruce Lynn explains, this cartoon gets to the heart of the separation between managers and leaders.
2. How leaders should NOT handle their IT team.
3. The line between a negative employee and logical one is imperceptible.
4. Motivating employees requires that you set an example.
5. What you say…what employees hear.
6. The highlights of job descriptions. How would you describe your job to a class full of kids?
7. Listening to advice (from grown-ups) can sometimes fog …