1138 Posts Found

If we want people to listen, we must banish “but” from our vocabulary. How many times has someone told us how well we have performed — and we were feeling good about the feedback, listening carefully — then we have heard “but,” and the positive, energizing part of the feedback was lost in the “but” and what followed it. “But” is nobody’s friend — listener … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Communication, Leadership

Look, I’ve lived a very long life, and I’ve seen a lot of stupidity. But very little of it beats the stupidity with which we have been downsizing…Don’t be surprised that morale is very low. The contempt for top management is dreadful. And the present generation of management is not going to regain the trust of their people. It is our greatest disadvantage in this … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Context Magazine | Subjects: Leadership, Management

In this provocative analysis of contemporary business leaders, psychoanalyst and consultant Maccoby (The Gamesman) reminds readers of Freud’s assessment of the narcissist as “the type of person who impresses us as a personality, who disrupts the status quo and brings about change.” Maccoby finds examples of these personalities in Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Steve Jobs and Intel’s Andy Grove. For Maccoby, the difference between the … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Michael Maccoby | Subject: Leadership

It is difficult for them [CEOs and executive groups] to stretch their thinking toward the future. They’re very “grounded,” realistic people. They are drawn towards missions, which describe what an organization does now, rather than vision, which describes why an organization engages in these activities. Visions, therefore, must describe the desired long-term future of the organization-a future that typically is not quite achievable, but not … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Leadership, Vision

It stands to reason that dysfunctional leaders would create dysfunctional organizations. Yet, as Professor Manfred Kets de Vries suggests, there is little research on the dark side of leaders, the “Darth Vader” aspect that is at the core of so many organizational downfalls. In this Working Paper, he looks at specific personality dysfunctions alongside organizational dysfunctions, illustrating how the two, more often than … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Manfred Kets de Vries | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subject: Leadership

Two dominant figures of that era (19th-century England) were William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. Gladstone was a powerful public figure for more than 60 years. It was said that when you had dinner with Gladstone, you thought that you were with the most interesting, brilliant, and provocative conversationalist. And it was said that when you dined with Disraeli — an equally charismatic figure — you … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Fast Company | Subjects: Leadership, Personality / Behavior

Climbing Mount Everest: dangerous. Hitchhiking in Colombia: very dangerous. Leading through change: perilous. Perilous but possible, say Heifetz and Linsky in their encouragingly practical guide to putting yourself on the line and negotiating the hazards of leadership. As the authors acknowledge, many leadership books are “all about inspiration, but downplay the perspiration.” This one doesn’t. Leadership is always a risky business, but those risks can … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Martin Linsky, Ronald A. Heifetz | Subject: Leadership

“Leaders make things up, and they make them happen. They’re defining the game — but they’re also making sure the game is on. And those two behaviors sit at very distinctly opposite ends of the continuum of how things get done. We must frame a vision, defining what done means. And we must then make that vision operational, deciding what doing actually looks like. It … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: David Allen | Source: Leader to Leader | Subject: Leadership

This site provides over 4,000 references on leadership, particularly but not limited to military leadership. It is intended to be of use to those doing research on military leadership or leadership in general.

Editor’s Note: keep in mind this is a bibliography – there is nothing you can read directly on the site to learn about leadership, merely references to good sources to read…

Content: Online Resource | Author: David D. Van Fleet | Subjects: Industry Specific, Leadership | Industry: Military

It’s a popular cry that there aren’t enough first-rate CEOs to go around. Is this really the case, or are we being brainwashed by agents of the crisis industry.

Content: Article | Author: John Nirenberg | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subject: Leadership

When Lorraine Monroe became principal of Harlem’s Frederick Douglass School, it was well known for violence, poor attendance, and a low level of academic achievement. Five years later, student test scores ranked it among New York City’s best high schools.

Content: Article | Author: Keith H. Hammonds | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Leadership

Next time you hear a chief executive go on about teamwork, about how “we” did it by all pulling together, ask who among the “we” is getting what kind of bonus. When you hear that chief boosting about taking the long view, ask how those bonuses are calculated. If cooperation and foresight are so important, why have these few been cashing in on generous stock … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Leadership

Leadership is a peculiar kind of calling. Major leadership roles, particularly at the level of a chief executive, aren’t necessarily appropriate for those who have achieved distinction in positions which may be, in a hierarchical sense, lower on the totem pole. Nor should such persons, however gifted they may be, necessarily want to take on positions of leadership in the institutions of which they are … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: The Bent of Tau Beta Pi | Subject: Leadership

Mr. Yoshio Ishizaka, former President and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., and now Senior Managing Director at Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan shares his views on the importance of developing global leadership talent. Specifically, he offers eight rules to find and groom a great global business leaders.

Content: Article | Authors: Douglas A. Ready, Yoshio Ishizaka | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Leadership, People

Whatever their strategy, CEOs are convinced that grooming top leaders is absolutely key to their companies’ ability to compete. Chief Executive magazine ranks the top 20 companies for leaders.

Content: Article | Author: Leah Nathans Spiro | Source: Chief Executive | Subjects: Best Practices, Leadership

In the 1980s and again in the ’90s, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner published The Leadership Challenge to address issues they uncovered in research on ordinary people achieving “individual leadership standards of excellence.” The keys they identified–model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart–have now been reexamined in the context of the post-millennium world … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Barry Z. Posner, James M. Kouzes | Subject: Leadership

The truth about senior management teams — and how to boost their performance.

Content: Article | Author: Jon R. Katzenbach | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Leadership, Management

Many M&A decisions may be the result of hubris, say Dan Lovallo and Daniel Kahneman. Heres a technique to help executives avoid the bad kind of optimism.

Content: Article | Authors: Dan P. Lovallo, Daniel Kahneman | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Leadership, Management

Dee Hock, founder and CEO emeritus of Visa, offers some thought-provoking ideas on managers’ responsibilities and on “chaordic” leadership.

Editor’s Note: This was a fantastic article and I highly recommend it. I have consistently been impressed with Dee Hock’s thinking.

Content: Article | Author: Dee Hock | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Leadership, Management

Developing people effectively “…does not include coercing them (no matter how benevolently) into acceptance of the goals of the enterprise, nor does it mean manipulating their behavior to suit organizational needs. Rather, it calls for creating a relationship within which a man can take responsibility for developing his own potentialities, plan for himself, and learn from putting his plan into action.”

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Leadership, Organizational Behavior