As economic and social conditions change, the pressure to be flexible and responsive will continue to mount. People in leadership roles will be expected to foresee what’s ahead and to make on-the-job adjustments without losing momentum.  The future vitality of your organization will depend on its ability to respond to disruption with minimum upheaval. Selecting […]

The vitality of any organization depends on its ability to respond to disruption with minimum upheaval. Disruption is much more subtle than change and thus more difficult to discern and detect. If you miss it when it first slips into your world, it will surely reappear. The abrupt onset of disorder and disarray are the […]

So, what’s all the fuss over vision statements? Is it a big deal and should you care? To gain a personal perspective, think about your workplace and complete this statement: The purpose of this organization is to ——–.  If your response came quickly, can be explained easily and fills you with hope, then you’re working […]

During our formative years, parents and teachers, serving as social guides, warned us against the perils of outspokenness. Their training emphasized the importance of not making waves. Repetitive injunctions like “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” clearly warned us to remain silent or at least to be careful what we […]

The demanding nature of the modern workplace is threatening to unbalance the leader-follower equation. Motivated by the fear of failure, leaders and followers reluctantly come together, not to address the issue, but to engage in finger pointing, faultfinding, and face saving. Meanwhile, the problem festers and their working relationship suffers as a result. The life […]

Followers need to validate what they’ve seen and heard first hand from a reliable leader before they take action. Whoever said, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” understood this concept very well. It’s important then to put your vision out there in a collective forum so that your followers can match what they see […]

Followers form a mental image of a situation based on what they see, hear or feel. For these reasons it is important to correct misinformation by putting your vision out there so everyone can ‘see’ what you mean. Whoever said, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” understood this process very well. It is human […]

A common complaint among leaders is that there is too much information available and not enough time to derive meaning from it and act decisively. That being the case, then, those who wish to reshape what happens tomorrow must rethink their concept of leadership today. For starters, the assumption that leadership is consigned to the […]