One of the most common mistakes first time leaders make begins with buying into the mythology of leadership greatness. The myth asserts that they must be charismatic, self-assured, inspirational direction-setters. They chart the right course and lead their team from the front. They have little time for self reflection or discussion. They never look back. They just go, go, go until the objective is conquered. (more…)

We can learn a lot about personal development by studying a length of rope. Ancient peoples figured out a long time ago that the strongest ropes were those made of twisted hides, sinew, hair, vines or whatever other natural material they could get their hands on. Chances are, they discovered this truth after a series of unfortunate events where single strand ropes sheared at inopportune times – “hey, there goes tonight’s dinner.” (more…)

Walt Kelly’s famous Earth Day poster proclaimed “we have met the enemy and he is us.” This statement rings true for many aspects of modern life, but perhaps none more so than in the management of our career.

Throughout my business experience, first as a corporate leader and now as an executive coach, I have witnessed numerous promising trajectories flatten-out because of the debilitating effect of ego. Shooting stars turn into falling stars. Supernovas fizzle and die. Incandescence to irrelevance. You get the picture. (more…)

If you attended B-School or spent any time studying organizations, you likely have heard of the Hawthorne Effect. This phenomenon gets its name from productivity studies conducted in the late 1920s at the Hawthorne Works, a Chicago area plant of the Western Electric company. The findings are fascinating and worth five minutes of Wikipedia reading. The upshot is that the productivity of workers consistently increased throughout the period of time that they were being analyzed, without regard to the factors being manipulated. (more…)