Leadership Perspectives

leadership in 2015

5 rules for more achievable New Year’s resolutions

Every year around now the time honored topics of New Year’s Resolutions and whether or not to make them comes up. People debate the merits of these oft-made, and nearly as oft-broken, promises to ourselves and, increasingly, decide just to skip the whole business altogether. But I’m an advocate of the much maligned New Year’s […]

4 ways to work more sustainably

Last week I wrote about working sustainably and the magic of pausing.  Here are some additional ways that leaders can work more sustainably. 1.  Examine your systems and fix ones that are inefficient Do you know exactly what you need to do and where to find the paperwork, tools, or other resources that you need […]

5 Problems with being a perfectionist

Last month an article caught my eye.  It was called “Why your employees need to make mistakes.” Years ago, I tried to convince my boss that mistakes weren’t necessarily bad.  Mistakes could be valid measurement of effort and innovation.  If we never make mistakes, it’s a strong sign that we aren’t putting our necks out […]

How to make strategic planning more meaningful

Despite what the calendar says, late summer, when kids go back to school, the nights get crisper, and the days get shorter, always feels more like the start of the new year than January 1st does, to me.  Anticipation is in the air as we shake off “summer casual” attitudes and start thinking seriously about […]

Not getting anything done? Are you focused on Progress or Maintenance?

A client recently told me that the most important distinction I had shared with her was my notion of “Progress versus Maintenance.”  The concept is simple and it is one that I started working on very early in my career and adult life when I noticed how easy it was to get bogged down with […]

The 7 Habits live on

Bestselling author Stephen R. Covey died this week of injuries that he sustained from a bicycle accident in April.  (Official Press Release.) We know the great personal loss of his passing to his family and those who knew him.  It is a great loss to the rest of us as well, who benefited from his […]

Priorities are a funny thing

I’ve noticed a funny thing.  Whenever I have a trip planned, whether for business or pleasure, I always start a few days or weeks in advance (depending on how far in advance the trip is planned) listing and trying to chip away at the things that I need to do before I leave. Listing the […]