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6.22.10
Who's on your team counts!
A friend pointed me to this article this week. Read about one the keys to success at industry leader, Tupperware. "The biggest piece of the puzzle for Tupperware over the past two decades has been its focus on people..." Click title to read more... |
04.22.10
2010’s Most Promising Leadership Training Trends
Here's an interesting assessment from a Canada-based consulting firm, Leadership & management training will certainly see a return to prominence in 2010. As the business community gets 'back to business' training & development will again become a focus in leading organizations... Click title above to read more... |
04.09.10
Major Challenges Facing Nonprofits
Here is an interesting overview of a number of "regional and national studies concerning the challenges facing nonprofits..." Do these challenges sound familiar? Click title to read more... |
03.19.10
Five Challenges Facing Nonprofit Boards
Developing Board members and leading as a Board is a difficult task even in the best of organizations. Here's a helpful piece that we found on Guidestar.org. Click link/title above to read more...
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03.02.10
The 9 Biggest Changes That Rocked Business
An interesting reflection on the first decade of the new millenium from a recent WSJ guest column by BCG's Harold Sirkin. Read on by clicking the title above... |
02.08.10
Back to Basics
So often in this day and age we are looking for the newest and latest craze, buzz word, whatever. In reality, King Solomon was right when he said there is nothing new under the sun. Thus, we often recommend classic books on leadership and organizations. Here's some real basics: George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. Read on by clicking title... |
01.04.10
WSJ: A Salute to West Point
One of the greatest honors I have is sitting on the Board for the West Point alumni association. Bill McGurn's editorial in today's Wall Street Journal explains part of the reason I feel that way. Click title to read the piece... |
12.21.09
Classic from Forbes
This column on the marks of a leader from several years ago appeared in Forbes. "In both business and politics leadership matters more than does any other personal factor..." Click title to read more... |
12.05.09
Nonprofit innovation depends on leadership
From the Stanford Social Innovation Review: A new way of doing business in the nonprofit sector is unfolding in Charlotte, N.C... What is unfolding in Charlotte reflects a new breed of nonprofit leadership that is starting to bubble up in communities... Click title above to read on... |
11.23.09
The Supreme Killer App: Your Memory
Harvard Business Publishing's "Management Tip of the Day": How often do you hear someone ask the question, "What did we do before cell phones?" One of the many answers to this rhetorical question is: we relied on our memories. Studies have shown that using our memory improves reasoning and creativity. Yet, because of our increased reliance on technology, few of us can even recall phone numbers or appointments anymore. Try using your memory more often by dialing numbers by hand or picturing your weekly calendar in your mind. It will not only help you use your mind in a healthful way, but may save you when the inevitable happens and your BlackBerry or iPhone crashes. For more, click title above...
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11.04.09
BNET: The 10 worst phrases to have in your resume
The old saying goes, "If you ask 10 people about your resume you will get 12 opinions." Liz Ryan of Yahoo's Savvy Networker shares hers in this BNET article... Click title above to read on. |
10.08.09
Enforce The No BlackBerry Rule!
Our world is all about communications, and with a client now in China, it is very hard to coordinate our communication. Still, even without the additional challenge of international clients, we regularly see evidence that supports Shaun Rein's research. click the title to read on... |
10.05.09
Even as Layoffs Persist, Some Good Jobs Hard to Fill
Here's an interesting piece today from the AP: ...Yet even with 15 million people hunting for work, even with the unemployment rate nearing 10 percent, some employers can't find enough qualified people for good-paying career jobs... Click title to read on. |
09.01.09
Women leaders of nonprofits focus of research study
The focus of a regional study of the leadership styles of women leading nonprofits is underway at Penn State. An assistant professor of public administration, is embarking on the first stages of a gender-focused research project supported by the college’s Research Council. The study intends to serve as a guide for the female leaders by providing information on their complex roles and the dynamics of their professional relationships. Read on by clicking the title above...
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08.14.09
Current Leadership reading
As I say regularly in this blog space, leaders are readers. Here's some current releases on leadership... (click title above to see the top five) |
07.30.09
Avoid a Common Interview Pitfall
BNET: Even if you’ve perfected your pitch and learned to summarize your accomplishments in a compelling and concrete way, interviews are not safe ground, especially for those who are relatively new to them. Interviewers have plenty of tricks up their sleeves... |
07.10.09
Top CEOs Name Best Leadership Books
Classics are classics for a reason. According to The Wall Street Journal, "In tumultuous times, CEOs are looking for timeless advice..." Read on by clicking on the title above... |
06.16.09
A Company Is More Than Its CEO
From The Drucker Difference column in Businessweek: The job of the CEO is a nuanced one, but a key trick to effective management, Drucker felt, is to "make people capable of joint performance." Click above to read on... |
05.27.09
How to Master the Art of Executive Interviewing
In this season of lots of transitions and job uncertainty, here's a good piece written for the WSJ by a colleague from a large search firm. Good, practical info for the interviewee. By far her best advise: Knowing yourself and being authentic are critical... Click title to read on.... |
04.29.09
Miss California, Tony Blair, & the 2009 Leadership Summit
What would Tony Blair say to Miss California? Check out what the Right Honorable Blair says about leadership in the video clip announcing that he has joined the faculty for the 2009 Leadership Summit put on by the Willow Creek Association. |
04.20.09
Finding Leaders for America's Nonprofits
A new study out today from the Bridgespan Group indicates that "Despite tightening budgets, nonprofits foresee a need to fill 24,000 vacant or new roles in 2009... Over 400 U.S. leaders of nonprofits with $1 million or more in revenues were interviewed for the report, which offers perspective on organizations’ hiring needs and plans..." Click title above to read on... |
03.25.09
Why Good Managers Make Bad Decisions
From the Wall Street Journal: Regulators and business leaders continue to try to figure out how decision-makers' missteps may have triggered the economic meltdown. Sydney Finkelstein, a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, has studied decision-making, and tried to track down some answers in a new book he's co-authored called Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You. Click title to read... |
03.16.09
Valuing an Objective Third Party
Recently (and often, actually) we were retained by a client that had conducted its last two CEO searches on its own with dismal results. They were specifically seeking outside, objective counsel. Here's a current piece from the Harvard Business Review, that addresses the value of an objective third party. Seems it could be due to the way our brains work. Click title above to read on...
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03.13.09
From the archives: Goal setting study at Harvard, 1979
Mark McCormack's classic, What they don't teach you at Harvard Business School recounts the results of a study where the Harvard MBA Class of 1979 (as studies wrapped up) was asked if they had "clear, written goals for your future" and then there was a follow up 10 years later. Click the title to refresh your memory about the results... |
03.10.09
While Boards Sat in Silence...
"Over the past few years, Washington, D.C., has witnessed two explosive nonprofit scandals." (American University & The Smithsonian) "...Both scandals invited embarrassing publicity and congressional scrutiny. Both exposed the governance flaws of experienced and well-intentioned board members. And both could have been avoided." Read on by clicking the title above. |
2.11.09
WSJ: Getting tripped up in an interview
Obviously, interviewing is a stressful part of being recruited or just finding a role for which you are suited. Being prepared is essential. Joann Lublin at the Wall Street Journal, identifies one question used by virtually every interviewer which many interviewees (most in our experience!) are not prepared to answer in an accurate, thoughtful, and transparent manner. What's your greatest weakness? Click title to read on... |
2.7.09
BW book review: McNuggets of Wisdom at McDonald's
Here's a review of a new leadership book: It would be so easy to snark about Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald's: The 7 Leadership Principles that Drive Break Out Success. For starters, there's the cut-and-paste title. (I thought we learned everything in kindergarten.) The seven habits—er, principles—hardly seem fresh, either... Click title to read on. |
1.10.09
What's a Leader to do?
...emerging leaders find little solace in the best practices that have worked so far. So what can help us cope with the challenges ahead? I have put together 10 mantras that might guide us ahead... (Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies Ltd.; taken from his Harvard Business Publishing blog) Click title to read on... |
01.05.09
Lunch in San Diego
If you are in the San Diego area on February 20th, catch lunch with Bret Dalton as he addresses the Men with a Promise group... |
12.08.08
How CEOs Might Survive Mumbai-style Terrorism
Given that most of the executives that we help our clients recruit are international in the scope of their duties, here's an interesting entry from a CBS Interactive blog written by a Businessweek veteran (click on title to read on) |
9.22.08
A New Approach to Mentoring
Mentoring figures into the work that we do all the time. It is a staple of good leaders and aspiring leaders. Today's Wall Street Journal has a piece addressing the subject and which begins: "Working with a mentor is a classic recipe for success in business. But the traditional mentoring relationship just doesn't work anymore..." Click the title above and read on... |
8.27.08
The State of Leader Development?
In keeping with the theme of this season in our work--succession planning--Chief Learning Officer magazine is a good resource on leadership development. Earlier this year they published "Leadership Development in 2008". Research has led the author to define "six best practices common to highly successful leadership development initiatives." Click the title above to read more and to link to the full article...
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6.10.08
Leadership Coaching Tip
Here's an interesting piece by LeeAnn Mallory in a journal that is new to us, Integral Leadership Review |
05.14.08
Drucker on Leadership: 3 unique traits & a one word definition
by Elizabeth Haas Edersheime
Through her interviews and correspondence with Peter Drucker, Ms Haas Edersheim has provided several insightful contributions to the Drucker legacy. This piece from last summer is one such item. Click the title above to read more... |
04.02.08
Next Generation Leaders Speak Out
A new report from the researchers at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services explores the ongoing discussion about a potential leadership shortfall... |
02.05.08
After the Interview
Everyone knows they should express their gratitude in writing following a job interview. Yet most applicants spend scant time writing such letters... Read Joann Lublin's piece from today's WSJ and see what most hiring managers think. Click title above to read more... |
1.10.08
The Higher Plane of Leadership (Blanchard & Miller)
..."Great leadership doesn’t start with what you know. It begins with a fundamental belief—a different motivation." Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller layout some basics with regards to servant-leadership in Leader to Leader Journal. |
10.15.07
Leadership & Communicating
Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO, General Electric: Every leader needs to clearly explain the top three things... |
09.20.07
How top companies breed stars
The world's best companies realize that no matter what business they're in, their real business is building leaders. Here's how the champs do it. |
07.09.07
Drucker on leadership
The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I"... They don't think "I"... |
06.30.07
Enduring Success (HBR)
What seperates great companies from the merely good?... The conclusions took us by surprise... That is the subtitle of an intriguing article in the current Harvard Business Review. |
06.20.07
Executive Transitions
Leadership transitions are our business, and it is a complicated business at that. Here is a free (after registration) paper on nonprofit executive transitions from a grant maker's perspective. Many valuable points for Board members of for profit and nonprofit outfits... |
05.08.07
Leaders are readers!
If there is one thing that I know for sure, good leaders keep up with all that is being written and discussed in the marketplace. Here's a list of leadership titles that are due out this month...
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04.27.07
Integrity really does matter
This morning's Wall Street Journal has the story of the former Dean of Admissions for MIT; an early career lie cost her her career. Unfortunately, far too often people lie on their resumes. Our process includes a diligent checking of background records and if there is a lack of integrity, it comes out. MIT's story shows that even without such an intentional screening, this stuff gets out into the open. Integrity really does count. |
04.03.07
Partnership
According to Marcus Buckingham, former senior consultant with The Gallup Organization, partnership is key in today's world. |
3.27.07
A Grateful American II
The president of the Dalton Group executive search firm, Bret Dalton, received an incredible response from his letter to the Spokesman Review. The paper printed it in their Sunday edition coverage of Specialist Bell's funeral. He recently received an email from his mother. Read his reply... |
03.14.07
A Grateful American
In the course of serving our clients, I am on airplanes quite a bit. Last night's flight into Spokane began seemingly as a normal flight, but things were not as they seemed... |
02.09.07
The Study of Leadership - Drucker
Here is a relevant blurb from a Drucker talk in 1969. Additionally, here's a link to a solid leadership web resource, LeadershipNow... |
Jan 25, 2007
In Praise of the Incomplete Leader
In today's world, there is an impossible standard for most CEOs--Do it all and do it well, or you are a failure. This is a prescription for failure--probably catastrophic failure. The key is distributed leadership. |
December 9, 2006
Leadership Crisis: Real or not?
There are many in the marketplace decrying a shortage of leaders. Is this true or is it hype? Stayed tuned on this blog over the next months for some differing views and balanced consideration of reality. Starting with the excellent piece posted here on September 3rd (Stanford Social Innovation Review: The Leadership Deficit) and now this piece from The Conference Board Review: What Leadership Crisis?. |
October 13, 2006
The Business of Business
by Dallas Willard. What is the purpose of business in society? "Today the spontaneous response to this question is: The business of business is to make money for those who are engaged in it." Read reflections from thought-leader Dallas Willard as he reflects on the answer to this question from earlier ages. What were leaders like John Ruskin and Louis Brandeis saying about this "moral" pursuit in 1860 and the early 1900s?
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September 3, 2006
The Leadership Deficit
One of the biggest challenges facing nonprofits today is their dearth of strong leaders – a problem that’s only going to get worse as the sector expands and baby boom executives retire. Over the next decade nonprofits will need to find some 640,000 new executives, nearly two and a half times the number currently employed.
To meet the growing demand for talent, the author offers creative ways of finding and recruiting new leaders from a wide range of groups, including business, the military, and the growing pool of retirees
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July 17, 2006
Compensation: Linked to performance?
Here's some interesting survey data that speak to intentionality when setting up compensation plans. Do you think the highest paid execs in the 100 largest public tech companies get the best results? |
July 10, 2006
Learning lessons from failures
BusinessWeek's cover story for it's current issue shows just how hard it is in our society to get people to take risks since failure has been so severely punished in most settings. However, the business world is in the process of trying to rediscover the fact that lots of valuable lessons are learned by taking risks, and that failing can breed ultimate success... |
June 5, 2006
Developing visionary leaders...
Here's an interesting article containing several thought provoking ideas, like "nonprofit boards provide the breeding ground for businesses and communities to develop the next generation of leaders."
Read, think, act, and get better at what you do! |
April 20,2006
Dynamic Duos
Correctly, some wise old sage has said that leadership is a lonely business, but the right pair at the top of your organization can make all the difference... |
March 3, 2006
WSJ - Resume Trouble
RadioShack isn't the first company to face questions over its CEO credentials. Here are other incidents from recent years.
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