Do you have ideas or potential you’re looking to develop? Do you find having others help while you help them spurs more creativity and action? Then you may want to work with a mastermind group. My friend and fellow coach, Silvia Christmann, is leading two eight-week curated groups, one starting September 15, the other September 20. While I coach, I don’t have any stake in her work. I can tell[…] Keep reading →

I don’t study philosophy, but I’ve been reading up on Aristotle and his Rhetoric, which is about persuasion. I’d rather put myself out there and have someone call me ignorant and foolish and set me straight than remain blissfully ignorant. I teach and write about persuasion. This stuff is interesting to me. Aristotle’s Rhetoric treats three main modes of influence, mostly based in words: Credibility (ethos) Emotions and psychology of[…] Keep reading →

Do you ever get a gift that’s almost what you want, but not quite? People who know me know I don’t like books, as I wrote about in “Less, please“. Sometimes someone gives me a book. I don’t want it. I can get it from the library across the street from me. Now I have to feel weird selling to a bookstore for $5 something you paid $25 for. What[…] Keep reading →

A reader and former NYU collaborator sent me this article from Fast Company under their “Leadership” heading: “27 Questions To Ask Instead Of “What Do You Do?” She knows my passion for effective and meaningful conversation, making people feel comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities, and supporting them on things they care about. Longtime readers will remember how I disparage “So what do you do?” as a leach that saps passion from[…] Keep reading →

My Inc.com article today, “Why This Ivy-League Physics PhD Teaches Leadership, Not Science,” begins Why This Ivy-League Physics PhD Teaches Leadership, Not Science The world’s big problems come from our behavior. Science doesn’t change behavior. Leadership does. Another week of hot, humid summer weather (sorry Australia) means more freezing offices where I have to bundle up. Might as well learn a lesson from it in the differences between science, engineering,[…] Keep reading →

People didn’t follow Martin Luther King because he wanted equality and freedom. They followed him because they wanted equality and freedom. Elon Musk isn’t so popular because he loves electric cars. He’s popular because we love electric cars, and their benefit relative to gas-powered cars. Dwight Eisenhower didn’t enjoy leading the D-Day invasion. The allies, soldiers, and their families feared Hitler and wanted to protect themselves. Eisenhower’s description of leadership[…] Keep reading →

Since every leadership situation is unique, I can’t teach you what to do in every situation. I can teach you to lead so you can figure out how to lead in every situation. It’s like saying I can’t teach you how to get from any place to any other place but I can teach you to ride a bike so you can get from any place to any other.

Following up the podcast I loved with Jim Harshaw that I posted two days ago, Jim prepares an action sheet for each conversation. Click here for the pdf of it. I also copied the text here so you can see some of what the conversation was about. I’ll include podcast below the text so you can listen to it from this page. I’m confident you’ll like it. Wrestling with Success[…] Keep reading →

My friend and colleague, Mark Nevins PhD of Nevins Consulting, published a piece I wrote on Feedforward, one of the most effective techniques for professional and personal development I know of. His introduction begins The Power of Feedforward Effective executive coaches and leadership development experts have long been aware of a powerful technique called “Feedforward”—its name is meant to differentiate it from “Feedback.” Even if you don’t think you know[…] Keep reading →