Have you noticed how many adjectives we seem to use these days when we talk about leadership?
Authentic, servant, great and real are a few of the adjectives that come to mind. In scanning articles about leadership it doesn’t take long to get the message that there is an absence of the kind of leadership needed to address the challenges in today’s world. There is also no shortage of examples of bad leadership.
With all the books, programs, and experts on leadership you would think we would have a glut of great leadership, but instead we have a seemingly ever growing void.
In his article on Counterfeit Leadership, Frank Sonnenberg does a great job distinguishing the difference between a real leader and those with leadership positions who misuse their position and/or fail to lead. He also points to our complicity stating: “With full complicity, we reward these misguided efforts by electing politicians for “life” and by paying executives zillions of dollars to damage the same organizations that they “swear” to serve.”
We know this kind of thing is happening. Unfortunately it is easy to point out examples of bad leaders and the absence of real leadership. Glaring examples of bad leadership are being called to our attention at an alarming rate. The void of “real” leadership is palpable for most of us. [click to continue...]
The status quo is a powerful force. We often talk passionately about the need to transcend it. We paint the status quo as the villain in the story of our quest to greatness. We must do battle with it if we are to do not just good work, but great work.
It is the obvious barrier to change in every dimension of our world that is calling out desperately for change. Education, the economy, wide scale corruption, obesity and environmental sustainability are a few of the big challenges of our time that come to mind.
But let’s get personal here. Organizations don’t change anything, people do. It really is up to you and me.
The status quo doesn’t live out there somewhere. It resides inside of each of us. Collectively the status quo of any human system may be the villain in our quest to transform how we live and how we work. Yet until each of us starts dealing with that villain as it lives in each of us we are unlikely to play a role in bringing that villain to justice. [click to continue...]
Today’s post is by Tim Eyre. Working with self storage users all over the United States, Tim Eyre helps customers store their stuff in places like Chicago self storage facilities
and North Fort Myers self storage locations. In his spare time, Tim likes to get outside for a game of basketball or a round of golf.
Failure. Defeat. Collapse. Downfall. Rout. Wreck. Washout. And those are just the polite words.
Why are we so hard on ourselves when we fail?
I find myself thinking back to classes that I took in college. The hard classes — the ones I had to struggle with — were always the ones that taught me something. The easy classes, the ones where I made effortless As, were nice, but they didn’t teach me a single thing. Yes, it’s a cliché to say that we must learn from our failures. Worse than that, it sounds like a consolation prize.
That’s too bad, though, because the lessons we learn from failure are not consolation prizes — they are gold. [click to continue...]
Shopping is one of my daughter’s favorite things to do. So we often travel 75 miles to go to a mall because it has all of her favorites stores – her idea of a perfect day out with mom. One of those stores is Abercrombie. For the most part I like the clothes for her, they fit her well and I have often thought to myself that I would have loved this store when I was her age.
And then I saw this poster. I took a picture while in the store. 
Since you probably can’t read the writing, here is what it says:
“Good: excludes school functions, not defined by obeying curfews, anything found in my room is inadmissible and cannot be used as evidence, all parent-teacher conferences and sibling testimonials are heresay and will be struck from the record.”
This is a kids clothing store!
Clearly they are going for the “cool” image. It is a status symbol to wear the Abercrombie moose or name on your clothes. And with this one sign they are associating cool with bad behavior. It is so blatant I am still stunned, not to mention angry. [click to continue...]
