Leaders are change agents. Managers are less so. Leaders steer the ship in new directions or they inspire followers to pursue the company’s vision with renewed energy and enthusiasm. Manager just, well, manage. They keep systems operating smoothly, meet quantifiable targets, and keep things on track. Most of us expect promotions. We expect to advance...

At what level do you most often think? At what level are you most often called upon to think? You have to think about a lot of things. You daily task list may be long and detailed or limited and general. But you have a lot to think about. Paul Hersey and Kenneth H. Blanchard...

Why would an economics teacher ask this question? My economics teacher asked each of us what we thought was the meaning of life. The answers were as varied as were those occupying desks. It seemed an odd question to me for the first class session of the course. I could have understood the question more...

He was the tenth son of a Boston soap maker. His father intended for his son to enter the ministry but he had money enough for only one year of schooling when the profession required many. So he apprenticed the young man to his brother, James, a printer. The apprenticeship did not go all that...

Start-ups are, in many ways, a lot easier than leading a seasoned company or organization. Once systems, methods, and procedures are in place they can become part of the corporate identity. Indeed, they become you and you become identified as them. If they work, okay. If they move your department, company, or organization toward your...

The scene: Window Rock, Arizona, capital of the Navajo Nation. The participants: A group of educators representative of several organizations and agencies. The Purpose: Develop an vocational training program to enhance the skills of leaders already in place throughout the tribe. The plan had to satisfy the practical needs of skill development and the intangible...

A few days ago I shared 5 reasons why hope is not an effective strategy. In that same article I also emphasized that hope is nonetheless an essential attitude. There is a difference between hope and hope so. The former is certain, expectant, optimistic. The latter is tentative, doubtful, and pessimistic, at least to a...

Hope is not a strategy but it is an essential attitude. One of the best employee associates I ever had was a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel. I have always loved working with military people. Their training firmly builds within them a “can do” mentality and a fixation on mission objectives. This one was no...

Undaunted Courage is one of the great stories in American history. When Merriweather Lewis and William Clark departed St. Louis in May, 1804 on what was then called the Corps of Discovery Expedition, they actually failed in their stated purpose. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to find “the most direct and practicable water communication across...