The best business results come from teams of people who care about each other, both personally and professionally. And because they care, they set bold goals—and solve difficult problems—together. Another way to say it: Goodness only comes alive in a business when people thrive together. When that happens, anyone trying to be a Superhero sticks out like a weed in a rose garden. To paint a picture, [...]
We all know that people are more engaged with a plan if they’re actively involved in creating the plan. Some employees today still see themselves as Superheroes who have all the answers. They ask team members “questions” that aren’t really questions – they are assertions. Big difference. We all know what that feels like. The underlying assumption is that feelings [...]
What do your mid-year meetings look like? Most good leaders have already created a credible accountability system, where the team is intellectually honest about their results, and they have short-term plans in place for the mid-course corrections to ensure they deliver on their promises by year-end. So many of these leaders are now wondering what they should be discussing at [...]
Even if you’re not necessarily in a leadership position right now in your career, it’s important you establish what it means to be a good leader sooner rather than later. Not only is it important to lay down these foundations of good leadership, but it also leads and inspires your company to have a higher level of performance and production. The [...]
Do you find yourself burnt out because you’ve just been doing all the work yourself? Leaders and CEOs often resort to this because they think that they can only rely on themselves to get the work done. Delegation is one of the more difficult things that business leaders have to learn, as it can often put people out of their [...]
The 91st episode of the Good Leadership Breakfast aired on the eve of Memorial Day Weekend. The virtual format allowed a large cadre of good leaders to tune in while preparing for the unofficial beginning of summer. And what a treat they received, meeting Megan Remark, President and CEO of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. Megan's charisma and mental [...]
What. A. Year. 12 months ago today, most leaders were wondering about the financial future of their businesses, while learning to work from home and live without the normal routines of everyday life. And then one year ago today, George Floyd was murdered under a knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Within days the city was burning. While on vacation [...]
Shared commitments are much more powerful than rules in business partnerships. Rule-based organizations depend on a hierarchy and chain of command to keep the order and presumably to ensure quality. Shared commitments are negotiated agreements between equals that ensure people win together. The “shared” part means everyone agrees and abides by the agreements. No one gets a special pass. The “commitment” part [...]
Trust is never automatic. It only happens when people assume accountability for everything in the service/value chain, meaning everyone in that team needs to be aligned and committed. In coaching and teaching good leadership, it is important to note that trust between people is an outcome of how people feel treated. It’s the result of a sequence of three crucial principles that can be measured, trained, and perfected: First, sincerity. Team members measure sincerity when they ask: Do [...]
“An enterprise leader one Monday morning, asked me if I was calling him about his low numbers from last week,” shared Ray Kowalik, CEO of Burns & McDonnell. Kowalik was the speaker at the virtual Good Leadership Breakfast this past Friday – the subject was How accountability increases with the feeling of ownership. Kowalik continued to explain how many of [...]