What does your daily agenda say about you?
How would you describe your life? Are you achieving what you desire? Are you accomplishing the things that are important to you? Do you consider yourself a success? How do your prospects look for the future? If I could come to your house and spend just one day with you, I would be able to…
Read MoreA Proclamation of Thanksgiving
The United States has seen its share of weather-related catastrophes in 2011. At the beginning of year, several cities were pounded by blizzards, and snowfall amounts approached record totals in Chicago, Boston, and New York. In April and May, a super outbreak of tornadoes wreaked devastation across the South-Central United States, most notably in the…
Read MoreGreatness cannot be locked up
Hello from Harare, Zimbabwe! For the past few days, I’ve been speaking on leadership in cities in Zimbabwe and South Africa. It’s been a wonderful trip, with audiences hungry to grow. And I’m grateful to my host, Dr. David Molapo. He’s taken care of every detail. But today I want to tell you about something…
Read MoreFrom my files: Quotes on Potential
This week I’m sharing on Twitter some of my favorite quotes on potential. But I’m not always able to include them all. Here are the thoughts of some people, both famous and unknown, on our potential and how we use it: An unused life is an early death. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe It is very…
Read MoreLeading Across: From Competing to Completing
Leading peers can be tricky since you’re simultaneously cooperating with and competing against them. For example, athletes on the same team contend for a limited number of positions in the starting lineup, yet compete together on game day. Musicians within an orchestra vie for the first chair, but then harmonize their talents to delight audiences…
Read MoreAvoiding Workplace Rivalries
In 2004, a group of Yale students (24 of them) pulled off an elaborate prank at the annual Harvard-Yale football game. Dressed in crimson-and-white T-shirts touting their membership in the Harvard Pep Squad, the Yale students positioned themselves throughout the bleachers on Harvard’s side of the field. During the first half of the game, the…
Read MoreLove the people first; sell the fish second
This is me about to catch a fish. Last week, I was in Seattle, Washington, for one of my favorite events: The Exchange Gathering. One morning, we enjoyed a presentation by the guys from the world-famous Pike Place Fish Market. If you’re not aware of them, “the Fish Guys,” as they call themselves, are famous…
Read More2 winners of 10 of The 5 Levels
Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s giveaway of cases of The 5 Levels of Leadership. It was wonderful to read all the comments and book reviews from everyone. And on Friday, we were happy to choose two winners at random (via random.org) from everyone who both commented and posted a review on…
Read MoreA case for reviewing The 5 Levels of Leadership
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have read the exciting news that The 5 Levels of Leadership made it onto the Wall Street Journal hardcover business bestseller list. What an honor. I know a lot of that is because of you, and I’m grateful! Thank you. I really believe in this book and…
Read MoreCurbing the Entitlement Culture
“This is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and…we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades. We need to get back on track.”~ President Barack Obama Has America gotten soft? Lost its edge? Wandered off track? In many ways, society has indeed gotten…
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