Every person is a blend of attitudes, opinions, gifts, and experiences. There are open people who will readily reveal things about themselves. Others who are more closed would not tell someone very near them. Some are quite direct and to the point. Others can be so indirect that some consider them devious, even scheming and...

There are four barriers that stand in the way of everyone and anyone. Once you realize what they are and define what they do, then and only then can you determine what abilities an associate should possess. You cannot readily find the people and means to overcome the barriers until you know what they are. ...

 Phil was approaching the end of his seventh year as the headmaster of a private school. All things considered, it had been a successful venture. The school’s census was growing each year, Phil directed a deeply dedicated faculty, and the school was paying its bills. Late one Friday afternoon, the parent of a student knocked...

Four Reasons Why We Work Alone. First, We Find It Too Daunting to Release Responsibility to Others.  We have an  intuitive understanding of our ultimate objectives and the things that need to be done in order to reach those objectives. Often the people to whom we would release responsibility don’t. Our natural instincts, insight, and...

When your circle of concern is greater than your circle of ability. Robert’s second floor offices are crowded with papers, files, memos, phone messages, charts, and project plans. On his belt hangs a smart phone. A secretary in a front office handles the business telephone, which rang a dozen times in the few minutes I...

Effective leaders understand both causes and their effects and are capable of dealing with both. In an earlier post I used a story of a manager at Disneyland who encountered a late night situation with tired horses and large crowds of people. You can read about it here. The immediate concern was the safety of...

  In my last post I mentioned the capacities of insight and outsight, two characteristics which distinguish leaders from managers. Leaders, as set apart from management tasks, are supposed to "see" further and deeper than those who serve under them. It is the "Line of Sight" principle. Here are 6 differences. There are doubtless many...

Every professional soon discovers that his or her name resides on dozens, maybe hundreds of mailing lists. Not only does the normal flow of correspondence find it way to you, so does tons more: catalogs, flyers, sales offers, opportunities to win $10 million, newsletters, magazines, newspaper clippings, contracts, receipts, bills, memos, notes, legal documents, and...

Jeff (not his real name but this is a true story) is one of the best in the business. He works for a big box store selling appliances and has been there for ten years. We were having lunch when he told me how unhappy he is at his job and that he is seriously...