Leadership author and speaker
Leadership author and speaker
In the first part, I discussed the necessity for leaders to help their teams find value in participation in professional and social organizations related to the business. For Air Force officers, that used to be the Officers Club, but I discovered my younger officers didn’t necessarily sign up to that particular tradition. Like the office coffee […]
It was axiomatic as a brand new lieutenant I was expected to join the Officer’s Club. I read about the expectation in my Air Force Officer’s Guide, and senior officers repeatedly reinforced that expectation. It was part of my professional obligation to support the Club, and I accepted this at face value. In fact, other a couple of […]
Email is dead. No really, it is. The days of point to point communication, accidental “reply to all”, and “can you send that to me again?” are over. What’s replaced it? Three words: Professional Social Networks (PSN). Ok, so maybe I overstated the death of email. Just like email didn’t eliminate the hand-written note or […]
This week’s Friday Link Around is all about the business of, well, business. To begin, are performance reviews value added? Red Balloon founded Naomi Simpson doesn’t think so–she sees them as at best incomplete and at worst a source of office bullying. What do you think? You probably already know I hate meetings, but if […]
Another Friday, and another opportunity to explore some interesting links! This week’s theme: entrepreneurs and people you outta know, plus a cool way to earn cash from those photos on your phone. Do you know about Neil Patel? I’ve been learning a lot from him about content marketing and internet business. Need some nutrition coaching, advice, or […]
Hey everyone! I’m starting a new Friday feature: Friday Link Around! No one feels like doing “work” on Friday, certainly not here in Hawaii. In fact, we look forward to the weekend so much here in the Islands, we have our own name for Friday: “Aloha Friday.” So in the spirit of a not-so-serious end […]
The top 5 posts from Leading Leaders during 2015. What was your favorite?
In the first part, I discussed the necessity for leaders to help their teams find value in participation in professional and social organizations related to the business. For Air Force officers, that used to be the Officers Club, but I discovered my younger officers didn’t necessarily sign up to that particular tradition. Like the office coffee […]
It was axiomatic as a brand new lieutenant I was expected to join the Officer’s Club. I read about the expectation in my Air Force Officer’s Guide, and senior officers repeatedly reinforced that expectation. It was part of my professional obligation to support the Club, and I accepted this at face value. In fact, other a couple of […]
Each new year the resolutions fly…we promise to lose weight, eat better, work harder, read more, you name it. Now that we’re at the end of January, it’s time to take stock of our goals and re-commit to them. Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once spoke about the snooze button, and how it was really superfluous. […]
On Small Business Saturday, I encourage you to support your local community businesses and small businesses online as well. Here’s a few suggestions: Books from Lead the Way Media: Patio Wisdom and Leading Leaders make great gifts to inspire and encourage. By the way, there’s an e-book version of Leading Leaders, and an accompanying Workbook […]
I’ve been in the military my entire adult life so whether I wanted to be or not: I’m an early riser. Over time I came to appreciate the value of using that morning time to make my day productive. In their 1980’s Army recruiting commercials the Army boasted “we do more before 9 am than most people do all […]
Leading volunteers is not easy. It would seem axiomatic that leading a group of volunteers would be easier than leading any other group, but it can more difficult because both the “transactional” relationship and the “mission” relationship are different from other types of teams. In a for profit venture the primary motivation is making the company […]
Not a day goes by that I don’t hear about some celebrity or public figure getting in trouble for something they posted on social media. The opportunities the internet offers for collaboration, publishing, and discussion have a dark side as well. Imprudent posting by leaders can end up coming back to haunt an organization, or […]
I gotta say, I’ve never been given advice on how to pester someone, but Jessica Stillman’s advice over at Inc.com is, in fact, good advice. Sayeth Ms Stillman: This technique, he [Teju Ravilochan, co-founder and CEO of the Unreasonable Institute] claims, has only resulted in one truly negative response out of hundreds of attempts. Brevity, […]
While I usually write about leadership in general or business environments, today I’m going to write specifically to those new squadron commanders who’ll be taking command of Air Force squadrons this summer. Today’s topic is how to be a successful squadron commander in the Air Force. 1. Remember that command is a privilege. Command in […]
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I really value direct and honest feedback. To many times I’ve had bosses tell me, “you’re doing fine, don’t change a thing!” Now I’m not perfect and I know it, so that sort of feedback just isn’t useful to me. Surely, I can do something to improve, and I’m counting on my boss to help […]
I came of age before email, so although I’m very comfortable with technology I’m also very careful with it. Rather than being a medium that replaced the hand-written or typed memo, email seems to have morphed into a combo of IM and a telephone conversation. I treat email just like I treat all written communication, […]
I’ve been a fan of Tolkien since I was a boy, and articles like this are one of the reasons why. Tolkien’s writing is so rich, that it’s possible to “mine” little nuggets of brilliance like these leadership lessons. By the way, if you liked the movies, give the books a try! (Hint: there’s more […]