Feb 2
Here’s an incomplete list of leadership essentials. How do you measure up?
- Humility: When it comes to gaining followers, the way up is down.
- Integrity: Your words and your actions must match. No exceptions.
- Honesty: Speak the truth, even when it’s hard to do.
- Generosity: Always do more and give more than expected.
- Accountability: Hold yourself and others to the highest standards of excellence.
- Clarity: Make sure everyone knows exactly what those standards of excellence are before holding them accountable. People can’t read your mind.
- Foresight: Know what’s coming before it comes. It’s not as hard to do as you think.
- Faithfulness: Follow-through without fail on everything you promise to do.
- Transparency: Openly talk about your weaknesses. People know them already.
- Diligence: Nothing worthwhile was ever achieved apart from hard work and intense effort.
- Rest: Take care of yourself. You can’t drink from an empty well.
- Joy: Take time to celebrate. The little things (like birthdays and anniversaries) and the big things.
- Courage: Sometimes it’s all you can do to hang on. So … hang on.
- Grace: People will fail you, criticize you, and hurt you. Let it go. Revenge makes you a bitter person.
- Wisdom: Know when it’s time to move on and let others lead.
Jan 5
When a company gets past the start-up/survival stage of their growth, it’s like arriving at the foot of a tall mountain. Yes, they have achieved something significant—80% of start-ups fail in the first two years—but they haven’t reached the summit of success. In other words, getting to base camp is great, but what you really want to do is climb to the top of the mountain.
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Dec15
It’s a great quote from Aristotle and worthy of being repeated. “You are what you repeatedly do,” the ancient philosopher declared. And although he didn’t intend to, he gave us a profound piece of business advice.
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Oct20
Louis V. Gerstner was appointed CEO of IBM on April 1, 1993. Talk about an April Fool’s joke! IBM was taking a beating in the marketplace and its stock had plunged to $12.73 a share. Talk of breaking up this American icon—or worse, its ultimate demise—became commonplace in the business community. When Gerstner left the company eight years later, however, Big Blue’s stock was trading at $120.96 a share.
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Oct13
There are laws that run the universe. Not civil laws, but physical laws like the law of gravity. In the same way there are laws that run the leadership universe. Not management laws, but principles of influence that determine how we impact people.
