At the first signs of trouble, the first steps you take are the most important steps you’ll take as a leader. This is called “walking towards the barking dog”, and I learned many years ago that this is an instinct that’s vital for leaders to develop. When confronted with an actual barking dog, the instinct…
Why You Need To Know Which Team You’re Really Leading
Every leader leads two teams; there’s the team you inherited, and there’s the team you built. This key truth has been one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned with respect to team leadership. The team you inherited were already in place before you showed up. They had been assembled by your predecessor, and…
How to Recognize the Moments of Truth that Establish Your Leadership
Leadership is a role that must re re-established every day, by passing through a series of “moments of truth”. The key is to recognize those moments when they come along. A moment of truth takes the form of opportunities to do the right thing, over doing the easy thing. This morning my first moment of…
Big Problem? Know Which Bucket Has the Solution
Some leadership challenges remain unsolved, because you’re looking in the wrong bucket for the answer. Years ago I inherited the task of trimming $400,000 out of a $3,000,000 budget. The first $200,000 had been relatively painless. But now the job needed deep cuts; I needed to trim another $200,000, and I had run out of…
Why Leaders Must Know How To Seize An Ice Cream Season
There’s a huge difference between generating momentum, and simply enjoying momentum. That’s a lesson I learned in my days as a younger leader, serving as the chair person of a non-profit organization. During a board meeting, as we reviewed some very strong accomplishments of the charity, I said to the board, “This board has achieved incredible…