Posts Tagged ‘Development’
JUDGING HOW TO SPEND TIME AS A LEADER
At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, swimmer Michael Phelps broke the world record for the most gold medals won by an individual during a single Olympiad. In the 100m butterfly, the race in which he tied the world record by collecting his seventh gold, Phelps won in a photo finish. In fact, to the naked…
Read MoreFASHIONING AN EMPOWERING WORKPLACE
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”~ Thomas Jefferson As consumer tastes change, so must companies, or else they quickly become extinct. As a clothier with 150+ years of history, Burberry has had to reinvent itself to stay relevant in the digital age. Best known for…
Read MoreCOMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
Are those with fortunes simply fortunate? Do our life circumstances depend more on fate or choice? Are leaders born or made? Harvard economist Michael Porter looked at these questions from the standpoint of national economic performance. Why do German engineers, Swiss chocolatiers, and Japanese electronics manufacturers enjoy a competitive advantage over the rest of the…
Read MoreHOW LEADERS DEVELOP
Leadership is not an exclusive club reserved for those who were “born with it.” The traits comprising the raw materials of leadership can be acquired. Link them up with desire and nothing can keep you from becoming a leader. Some people have a more intuitive grasp of how to lead than others. These “natural-born leaders”…
Read MoreCASTING A CLEAR VISION IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
Americans dream of a political leader with the wherewithal to erase the government’s budget deficits, slash its debt, and restore its international reputation. As enormous, or even impossible, as the task sounds, Anne Mulcahy performed a similar feat during her ten-year tenure at Xerox. As CEO, she took a near-bankrupt brand, whose name had at…
Read MoreTRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
How did you spend summertime as a child? Perhaps you have memories of vacationing with your family, playing baseball or softball, attending summer camps, or swimming at the pool or lake. Eight-year old Khadim spends his days at a brick kiln, working to pay off a small debt inherited from his deceased parents. However, he…
Read MoreINVENTIVE THINKING
Disheartened after another day of failing to connect with his students, the young teacher trudged upstairs to his office and slumped down at his desk chair in defeat. He was angry, and he had every right to be mad. After all, his boss at the YMCA had assigned him a seemingly impossible task. He had…
Read MoreTHINKING YOUR WAY TO THE TOP
No one wants to feel invisible as they pass through life, yet we often get the impression that others see us as little more than a statistic. Our resume ends up in a pile, our performance reviews goes into a file, and like everyone else we get a raise every once in a while. We’re…
Read MoreLEADING IN A COMPLEX WORLD
With an average of 2,500 arrivals or departures daily, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport boasts the busiest terminal complex in the world. A quarter-million passengers pass through it each day. As one would imagine, the logistics of coordinating such a high volume of traffic are incredibly complicated. A sophisticated air traffic control system is responsible for…
Read MoreSIX SIMPLE RULES FOR LIFE
A five-year old slugger smacks the baseball out into the field and sprints toward third base. A tiny midfielder, playing her first soccer match, reaches down and scoops into her arms the ball rolling through the green grass toward her. A small child on the basketball court receives a pass from a teammate and excitedly…
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