Boundarylessness - What Is It?

Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of GE, had a term he liked to share with his executive team. The word was “Boundarylessness”. What he meant was each leader should explore the boundaries they have set for themselves; the artificial limits placed in the heart of man. These limiting thoughts need to be eliminated. He wanted no boundaries to hold back the leader’s effort. He implored people to operate…

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How to Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

It’s an old saying you’ve likely heard before. For anyone who owns a business, this phrase is counsel that may be hard to do. For all the owners out there, all three counts in this simple mantra may be nearly impossible. Lead-follow-getoutofway First, to Lead On one hand that seems obvious. You own the business, who else would be leading it? Well, it might not be you. Leadership is much different…

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Are You Ready to Take a Chance?

As businesses across the globe begin to ponder their choices for reopening in a post-COVID-19 world, people will be faced with choices. While governmental restrictions dictate some of those choices, it appears all other choices will be left up to the owner/manager. Are you ready to take a chance? The choices will involve taking chances. How are you set for taking a chance? Here are just a few of…

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Leaders: Is Your Myopia Your Utopia?

Watch out for becoming too single vision in your leadership style.

When it comes to leadership and management, nearsightedness or myopia is a common occurrence. What does that mean? Is Your Myopia Your Utopia? Single vision Since effective leadership is part art as much as part science, I see too many managers taking a nearsighted look at their role and responsibility. Nearsightedness is called myopia. By this I mean we place more emphasis on the duties and…

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Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

We’ve all heard various ideas about managing our lives. When you break it all down, things can get lumped into these three categories. And we’ve all heard the saying: “Live for today.” But what about yesterday and tomorrow? Life isn’t a series of isolated moments. It’s a beautiful tapestry woven from the threads of our past, present, and future. Learning from Yesterday Dwelling on past mistakes…

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Lessons in Leadership: Soaring with the Winds of Life

  In learning how to fly an airplane, one of the first lessons has to do with understanding winds. Winds come in basically three types; Head winds – those hit you right in the face Tail winds – those from behind Cross winds – those at angles from the side I believe the challenges we face in life and in business model these three types of wind as well. If we consider all the forms of challenge…

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What Is Professional Presence and How Can I Achieve It?

What Exactly Is Presence? Presence is letting the most powerful version of yourself shine through. I like to cite the renowned leadership expert Sylvia Ann Hewlett, who defines “presence” as a combination of gravitas, communication, and appearance. Together, these elements form an impression of trustworthiness, competence, and authenticity. Gravitas is signaling that you have the confidence and…

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Change and Progress, Are They Twins?

In today’s complex business world, change is hard. Companies venturing through major culture shifts, mergers or other forms of change often struggle to make it to the end. The idea that people hate change is a phenomenon that is taught, coached and wrestled with in many ways, shapes, and forms. Regardless of your mindset about CHANGE, there is one vital aspect you should explore. PROGRESS is…

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Leaders: If you Confuse, You Lose

There’s an old saying in the sales world. “The confused mind says NO.” Clearly that has big implications when trying to sell a product or service. A prospect who gets confused by your sales pitch will revert to a NO answer all the time. On the other hand, a clear, concise explanation of the thing you are trying to sell will help close the deal. The same is true of leadership responsibility. A…

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Cultivating Harmony: Growing vs. Building Company Culture

Company culture. It’s a buzzword thrown around in boardrooms and plastered across job postings. But what exactly is it, and how do you achieve it? There seems to be a common misconception: culture is something you build, a foundation laid from scratch. But a thriving company culture is more akin to a garden – something nurtured and encouraged to grow organically. This post dives into the…

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The Spectrum of Workplace Personalities: Beyond Cool Breezes and Fog Machines

A few years ago I wrote a piece contrasting the “cool breeze” and the “fog machine”, whimsically (at least my attempt at whimsy) to illustrate extreme possibilities in the way a leader can show up at work. I think It’s time to delve deeper into that idea (minus the whimsy part). While the “Cool Breeze” and “Fog Machine” personalities capture a fundamental aspect of workplace dynamics, the…

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How Does Personality Impact Your Leadership?

People talk about charismatic leaders having “big” personalities. Powerful leaders are often known as “Type A” personalities. We know about introverts and extroverts. But how does personality really impact your effectiveness as a manager or owner of a business? If we take away celebrity status from high paid CEOs and public figures, what else does personality have to do with how you run a…

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Maximizing Your Return on Invested TIME

Many years ago, a business coach and mentor I knew named Gerry Fusco introduced me to a phrase he invented. Return on invested time (ROIT). As business owners and leaders, we know about ROI, ROE, EBITDA, SDE, etc. But have you ever spent any waking hours measuring ROIT? We make plans, build budgets, measure KPIs, and do many other quantitative things to assess business performance yet we seldom…

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3 Rings of Accountability

Leaders at all levels share some common responsibilities. It doesn’t matter whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 or the owner of a small shop in the local town. You have some common threads that weave the fabric of who and what you need to be as a leader. In a recent post I introduced the three circles of leadership. This model describes and contrasts the leader you want to be vs the leader…

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Ditch the Emerald City: Why True Leaders Step Out From the Curtain

The Wizard of Oz may have been pulling levers and projecting smoke and mirrors, but that wouldn’t make him a very effective leader. In today’s dynamic world, the “man behind the curtain” approach simply doesn’t work. True leaders understand that inspiration stems from visibility, trust from approachability, and connection from relatability. Just like Dorothy needed to see the Wizard face-to-face…

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Beyond the Big Stage: Crafting Your Leadership Legacy One Moment at a Time

We often imagine leadership as a grand production. Spotlight moments, heroic decisions, and sweeping pronouncements come to mind. But what if the key to building a truly impactful reputation isn’t found in these blockbuster scenes? What if it lies in the quiet, seemingly insignificant interactions that fill our daily lives? The truth is, leadership isn’t a one-time performance; it’s an ongoing…

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The Tyranny of Perfection: Why Striving for 100% Can Cost You More Than It's Worth

In a world obsessed with hustle culture and #winning, the pressure to achieve perfection is omnipresent. We push ourselves to the limit, fueled by the belief that anything less than perfect is failure. But what if this relentless pursuit of flawlessness is actually holding us back? What if, in our quest for the unattainable 100%, we’re sacrificing the perfectly good 80% that could be more than…

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