Blog posts

What's the first thing we do as Leaders, when faced with setbacks or disappointments. Determine who or what is to blame? Someone, some individuals, some circumstance? That is the essence of the Blame Game.

We’re all familiar with the concept of value creation. Not sure how many of us think about it primarily in the context of our careers or how we show up as Leaders. How do we determine whether we’re actually creating more than we consume?

Every one of us will face challenges in life, moments of doubt – even feelings of inadequacy. There’s always the tendency to “play it safe”, not take any chances – for fear failure, loss or disappointments. Some times we’re so afraid of facing setbacks that we’d rather not try.

A "Super Power" is a particular skill or competency that one excels at - could be Creativity, Tenacity, Problem Solving, Collaboration, Storytelling, Strategic Thinking & Clear Communication or something else? What's yours?

So, the longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. To me, it’s more important than facts, than the past, than education, intelligence, money, circumstances – past failures and successes.

We’re on listening in on calls, tracking email and reviewingthat power point slide deck – all at the same time. Often, we make lists of deliverables, get through the first 5 work items on Monday and push the rest to the next day. If we repeat that cycle, by the end of the week we’re behind on some key goals.

Mandela references “The Cell” as a place to get to know yourself, learn self-awareness and judge our progress in life, based on Internal Factors as well as external ones. I feel like we can all benefit from spending time in The Cell, without actually being locked behind bars.

Often times, as aspiring Leaders, we strive to develop and showcase subject matter expertise in our field of endeavor. We want to show up as being buttoned down, detail oriented, organized and having a strong command of the situation, the numbers and especially the challenges our organizations face.

Much has been written about the importance of Mindset – having the right mindset can give Leaders a competitive advantage. We’ve all come across Leaders who had Great Success with seemingly very different mindsets. Here 4 key mindsets by outlined by Ryan Gottfredson and Chris Reina.