Clik here to view.
Thoughts That Make You Go Hmmm on…Performance Excellence
Insights and inspiration as I attend Zenger Folkman’s Extraordinary Leadership Summit this week in Utah and the world watches the London Olympics: “The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review of “How to Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your...
How to Be Exceptional couldn’t come at a better time. We’re standing at a very critical crossroad. Our organizations desperately want and need much stronger leadership at all levels. But a torrent of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
360 Feedback Tools Can Help or Hurt Leadership Development
360 multi-rater feedback assessments are now used by more than 85% of Fortune 500 companies. They’ve become a foundation of leadership development efforts because they’re like a GPS unit showing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Leadership Lessons from Evidence-Based Medicine
In the 19th century “snake oil salesmen” travelled throughout North America selling unproven or fraudulent oils, elixirs, and various cure-all remedies. In 1906 the US Pure Food and Drugs Act began to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s What Many Leaders Don’t Do That Make Them Uninspiring
Derek is the head of a large division. He’s technically brilliant, a great strategic thinker, with strong analytical skills, and tremendous drive for delivering results. Derek’s impressive track record...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Leadership Cross-Training is Powerful and Revolutionary
For the last few decades leadership development has used a linear approach. For example, communication skills training might involve breaking down the key actions of the skill, showing examples of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
GPS for A Personal Development Plan
Last week I received this e-mail from a manager in Toronto: “You were recommended to me by my boss. He is interested in having me take some leadership training specifically on the issue of ‘managing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Manifesto for a Leadership Development Revolution
I’ve been delivering keynotes, webinars, facilitating workshops, and discussing our Strengths-Based Leadership Development System for the past month with many highly experienced HR, Learning, and OD...
View ArticleClik here to view.
9 Ways to Get Over Your Feedback Fears
Canadian Thanksgiving Day was earlier this month. That holiday Monday was cool with bright sunshine and blue skies. After our traditional Oktoberfest Family Day lunch (Kitchener-Waterloo celebrates...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Powerful Combinations: Drive for Results and Builds Relationships
Last week I was facilitating a two-day development retreat with a management team in Western Canada. We were discussing Zenger Folkman’s powerful research on the statistical correlations and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Three Strategies to Dominate in a Scary Economy
Tomorrow is Halloween. So it’s fitting to read a very well written piece in Fortune about “how smart companies are facing the doomsayers with great ideas and fearless moves.” Senior Editor at Large,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
6 Reasons Many Leadership Competency Models Fail
Most progressive organizations today are using leadership competency models to outline the key skills and behaviors they want to see in their supervisors, managers, and executives. Leadership...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Just In…Kissing up to Your Boss Doesn’t Work
Last month Zenger Folkman issued a press release in honor of National Boss Day. Not realizing there was such a day (does that say something about me as a boss?), I looked it up. I learned that it’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Keys to Make Leadership Competency Models Flourish
My last blog post looked at how Why Many Leadership Competency Models Are Failing. This post looks at what has been learned over the decade of implementing the Strengths-Based Leadership Development...
View ArticleA Balanced Approach for Highly Engaged Employees
Many organizations recognize that highly engaged employees create dramatically higher levels of customer satisfaction. Highly engaged employees are less likely to quit and leave — or to quit and stay....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is Your Culture Anchored in Strengths or Weaknesses?
Most organizations we’re working with today have declared a set of values. Posters, slides, banners, screen savers, newsletters, flyers, and framed parchments proclaim what the organization stands for....
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Tis the Season of Prophecies, Forecasts, and Predictions
We made it through yet another doomsday prediction! The world did not end on December 21 as some felt the Mayan calendar predicted. Around the world interest in survival pods, underground bunkers, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Enormous Coaching Skills Gap
A study on the need for improved coaching skills development conducted by the consulting firm, CO2 Partners, found that only 11% of employees listed their supervisors when asked “whom do you turn to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harnessing the Power of an Offsite Retreat
Time away from daily operations in a management team retreat is critical to “sharpening the axe.” Having seen the powerful R & R (revitalization and renewal) emerge from dozens of offsite retreats...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t be Seduced by the Dark Side
Recently I had a coaching session with an operations vice president to review her personal development plan, following her participation in our Extraordinary Leader workshop. In that session she...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Five Steps to Making Time for the Work That Matters
Are you frustrated and overwhelmed by a flood of e-mails, meetings, and endless administrative tasks? Does it feel like the harder you work, the less you accomplish? In their article, “Make Time for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lead Your Boss to Build Support for Your Development
A highly productive component of The Extraordinary Leader development approach is the Importance Ratings section of the feedback report. This is where each set of raters — including the participant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Leveraging Strengths and Building Team Spirit
I was working with a highly energized financial services team who really connected with the power of strengths-based leadership. Part of our discussion centered on the story of a 7th grade teacher who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warning Signs: How Vulnerable is Your Career?
As the frenetic pace of organizational mergers, downsizing, and restructuring picks up speed, middle and senior managers are faced with career opportunities and major threats. A few months ago I...
View ArticleMost Performance Appraisals Like Being Poked in the Eye with a Stick
In 1998, Martin Seligman, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, was elected President of the American Psychological Association by a landslide. This set him casting about for a...
View Article
