How Leaders Today Should Approach Risk
When it comes to leadership and risk, there’s a Hollywood version that tells a stylized story of maximum risk-taking leading to mind-boggling gains. Think of the way Amazon scaled, transforming from an online book-seller to an online everything-seller—now with about 40% of all U.S. retail ecommerce. Recall how Jeff Bezos talks about their “day one” mentality—always acting like a hungry startup and making quick decisions while jumping on trends. Think of how Google employs its “moonshot” approach. Consider Facebook and its famed “move fast and break things” approach. “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s
A Painful Leadership Lesson in Managing Risk
There we were, putting our heart and soul into a bold new startup venture with buckets full of promise. We were all in. The air was electric. And everything was about to come crashing down. Our planned new offering was ambitious and pathbreaking. We knew we had our work cut out for us. The scope and complexity of our product build? Massive. Our timetable? Insanely aggressive. And with a rock-solid deadline. What’s more, it required deep, synchronized collaboration across our different departments along with a race to hire the needed talent and get them cracking. To operate as planned, we’d
Get Beyond Your Natural Leadership Style: Learn to Flex
Though you have a natural leadership style, to be effective and masterful you need to learn to get beyond it. Now, that may sound difficult. After all, people have their natural personalities. People enter leadership roles with a disposition that drives them to be either commanding or collaborative, introverted or extroverted, cautious or decisive, relationship-oriented or task-oriented. You can’t change your DNA, and you should be authentic, as leadership author Bill George has written, avoiding the trap of trying to lead like someone else. But you can change your behavior. For decades, managers have relied on a battery of tools,
A CEO Reflects on Using Different Strengths in Different Life Phases
Article Summary: How one CEO used different strengths in different phases of his life as his context and priorities changed. +++++++++++++++ I’ve been reflecting on my strengths lately as I look back on my life and career. I recently used Gregg’s Strengths Search tool. (Gregg is my son and co-author on our book, Triple Crown Leadership.) It’s a self-assessment designed to help you identify your core strengths (the things you’re really good at) and start using them more. First, I highlighted an initial list of strengths I’ve used throughout my life. I realized I’ve used different strengths in different
How Leaders Can Develop Self-Awareness
How self-aware are you? It’s common for people, including leaders, to overestimate their self-awareness. Based on multiple investigations with nearly 5,000 participants, organizational psychologist Dr. Tasha Eurich and her colleagues found that “even though most people believe they are self-aware… only 10-15% of the people we studied actually fit the criteria.” In their survey of 467 U.S. workers across several industries, 32 percent reported working with at least one manager who demonstrated a sweeping lack of insight into how they came across to others. According to the data from Hay Group’s Emotional and Social Competency Inventory, which includes information on
Why Self-Awareness Can Be Hard for Leaders
Many leaders think they have a high level of self-awareness when in fact they struggle with it. For leaders, this can show up in many ways. For example, perhaps you’re not aware that you: are so focused on the next thing that you don’t take time to celebrate your team’s achievements tend to make decisions without spending enough time getting input from your team come across as unclear or too vague or indirect in your communications don’t seem accessible to your team Such things have real consequences. Meanwhile, since you’re not aware of them, they’ll likely fester. Perhaps for a
How Self-Awareness Can Elevate Leadership
Being self-aware means knowing ourselves well, including understanding our emotions, motives, and desires. Self-awareness means having a clear and accurate understanding of our emotional landscape, core values, strengths, and weaknesses. Also, it means seeing clearly and accurately how we impact others. For leaders, there are many benefits to developing self-awareness.* For example, self-awareness can help leaders: enhance their sense of personal control assess their growth and effectiveness develop self-acceptance and self-compassion avoid wearing a mask or creating a persona that lacks authenticity see their blind spots recognize the ruts they’ve fallen into determine when it’s time to change course improve
What Happens When Leaders Lack Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is an important component of leadership effectiveness, according to researchers. It’s also a key differentiator between good and great leaders. According to leadership authors, James Kouzes and Barry Posner: “….self-awareness is a predictor of success in leadership.” On the flip side, many leaders have blind spots that inhibit their leadership effectiveness and even damage their relationships. For example, think about the leaders who: come across as overly ambitious, cut-throat, or self-serving think they’re trustworthy when in fact their colleagues don’t trust them can’t seem to learn from their mistakes are overly confident about their decisions when in fact they
Sustainable Business: Trends and Challenges
At the University of Denver’s Sustainable Business Symposium recently, we heard about several trends and challenges, including not only advances in renewal energy and carbon emissions reporting but also a backlash against ESG, greenhushing, and pushback against DEI efforts. The challenges are real, but so is the progress. But first, the context. The Ethical Basis for Sustainable Business In his welcome address at the symposium, Bruce Klaw, Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Business Ethics and Legal Studies at the University of Denver, started with a historical perspective going back four decades. He noted that the United
This Is How You Can Become a Better Listener
Want to become a better listener? Talk too much? Poor listening is related to many of the most common and damaging leadership derailers, including being (or being viewed as) controlling, disconnected, egotistical, insensitive, aloof, intimidating, or micromanaging. It’s hard to be a good leader if you’re a dominating talker. Of course, there are times when you must speak up and issue directives. But most of the time, you should listen more and talk less. There are many benefits that follow from good listening. For example, it tends to: strengthen relationships and build rapport, help build a strong sense of team
Women, Leadership, and the Double Bind
This week, I participated in an event on “Exploring the Strength of Women in Leadership” hosted by my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College (CMC), with presentations from Dr. Sherylle Tan (CMC Professor and Director of Internships and Research, Kravis Leadership Institute), Claudia Raigoza (Director of Project Management, Fiserv), and Jessica Dang (Head of Customer Experience, Vode Lighting), and moderation by Evan Rutter (Assistant Vice President for Alumni and Parent Relations, CMC). The discussion covered many important topics that are highly relevant to all of us in the modern workforce and, of course, on International Women’s Day. Here’s my take on
The Telltale Actions of Courageous Leaders
These days, we find ourselves with a dearth of courageous leaders. Too often, we have cowardly leaders who duck, dodge, and go along instead of leading from the front. This comes with painful consequences, from low trust in organizations and institutions to low respect and engagement in the workplace. We can—and must—do better. We need more courage. Think of the inspiring courage of Alexei Navalny. Consider Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Think of Malala. Consider the young women who testified to Congress about the wrongdoing they witnessed, despite grave personal and professional risks. And think of the poll workers who continue to do
10 Benefits of Credibility in Leadership
When many people think about what makes a leader, too often they think about things like vision, inspiration, and charisma. They think about knowing what to do and getting people to do it. Or they think about confidence and decisiveness. Sure, these are important sometimes. But there are many other aspects of leadership that remain hidden to many—and to new leaders. A big one is credibility. When we have credibility, we’re worthy of belief and trust. It comes from a powerful combination of both character and competence. Credibility is one of the most important elements of effective leadership. High credibility
The Telltale Signs of a Bad Boss
What’s the deal with all the bad managers out there? According to a Gallup study of 7,272 U.S. adults, one on two had left their jobs at some point in their career to get away from a bad manager. A YouGov and MHR survey of 2,006 workers found that 80 percent of U.S. workers have experienced poor management or a poor manager at least once in their career. What’s the situation in your workplace? Signs of a Bad Boss Here are the telltale signs of a bad boss: micromanaging people lying, cheating, stealing, otherwise acting unethically being egotistical (self-centered
What I Learned about Leadership from Playing Sports
I’ve been reflecting lately on lessons I’ve learned from playing sports over the years. Last week, I wrote about what sports taught me about life, so here I’m addressing leadership lessons from sports. We all know how sports can help build our character as well as our fitness, how we can learn about teamwork, and how athletes can be fierce and unyielding in competition but also honorable and graceful in defeat. But what do sports teach us about leadership? Here are 12 of my top lessons based on my experiences, starting at age five, on the soccer fields, tracks, Little
