Category Archives: Leadership

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Are You Missing The Plank In Your Eye?

Every time someone subscribes to receive updates from my blog, they should receive an email asking them what the biggest struggle they’re facing today is. I recently had a subscriber respond with an issue most leaders have at some point. 

I shared my thoughts on the topic with them, and they said I should make our conversation a blog post. I hope you will enjoy this interaction made into a cohesive topic about leading others well. 

Man sitting in front of laptop. His hands are thrown up in frustration.

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Here’s the struggle the reader was facing:

I would say my biggest struggle is mentoring new, younger employees.

At times their level of confidence far exceeds their abilities. In my opinion this contributes to an employee who over simplifies things, over relies on their own abilities to solve a problem, and takes unnecessary risks. This approach can create project delays.  Read more...

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5 Tips For Leading Effective Meetings

What do you think of when you think of a business meeting? Is it a time to be productive? Or is it a time and money waster? 

There are valid arguments for both ideas. 

Men and women sitting around a table. They are at a work meeting. Laptops are open on the table.

Photo by Mapbox on Unsplash

Meetings get people together. They can brainstorm, hash out ideas, and come together as a group. It’s powerful when you have multiple people in a room together to work through a pressing matter.

Then there’s the flip side. Meetings waste money. Think about how many people are involved in your meetings. How many are there? If there are five people in your meeting, each person gets paid an average of $30 an hour, and the meeting lasts an hour, that is $150 for the meeting. Now, the meeting recurs every week – $7,800 a year for a meeting. What if the meeting group was larger? The cost of the meeting goes up even more.  Read more...

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How To Be A Grateful And Appreciative Leader

As a team member, feeling appreciated beyond the paycheck is important. You put a lot of effort into fulfilling your job requirements, finding things to do, and making the organization money. The daily grind can be mind-numbing.

Add to that working for a leader who doesn’t show appreciation can destroy any motivation they have to continue working hard. As the leader, it falls on you to make sure your people know that you are grateful and appreciative of their hard work.

I think back to some of my roles where I had a leader who didn’t show their appreciation. It was just demands for more output. Nary a thank you, great job, or I see you were said. At times, there were even threats despite my best efforts. 

I look back on those days and think about what I longed for as an employee. I wanted to feel appreciated.  Read more...

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What A Swan Taught Me About Leadership

On a warmer February afternoon, Pamela and I walked through our neighborhood. We walked over a creek, which is a hotbed of activity during the summer. In the winter months, there’s not much going on.

However, on this day, we saw two ducks and two swans. The two ducks and one swan were swimming along fine. They were having a great time in the water.

But then there was the second swan…

A swan on water. There is ice surrounding the swan.

He’s in the middle of an ice patch. All around him is a crunchy layer of ice. What we saw happen next surprised me.

The swan didn’t take flight. He pushed himself forward, again and again, into the ice. He was breaking through the ice so he could get to the portion of the creek that was free of ice.  Read more...