Emotional Intelligence

Earlier this summer, on June 14, MOR Associates hosted a virtual conference focused on the theme Reimagining IT as University Needs and Technology Evolves.  There we heard from five university CIOs about the changes underway at their universities.  [Their remarks can be found here.]  Two weeks ago, in the Tuesday Reading Revolutionary Relationships, I asked, as we did […]

The important thing is not to stop questioning…  Never lose a holy curiosity.         – Albert Einstein During World War II when I was a young boy, we lived with my mother’s parents while my father worked about 100 miles away in an oil refinery and commuted back to our small town […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is a short video Emotional Intelligence in Tough Conversations from the Harvard Business School’s “The Management Tip” series.  The presenter is Susan David, CEO, Evidence Based Psychology and Codirector, Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital.  David is also co-author of Emotional Agility, which appeared in the November 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review. […]

 In addition to all of the things you have to do in your job is the important responsibility of managing the relationship with your boss.  It takes time and energy.  And, managing it is as important as any of your work, and doing it well can simplify your job by eliminating future problems. Stop for a […]

“Character is the tree.  Reputation is the shadow.”  —  Abraham Lincoln Earlier this month, Fred Kiel’s new book, Return on Character, caught my attention. Kiel is co-founder and principal at the KRW Research Institute which focuses on creating character-driven leadership cultures.  The book is the result of a seven-year study involving 121 CEOs and their senior teams.  […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, Gratitude, is a reflection written earlier this year by Jaime Thompson.  Jaime supports IT in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota and is a participant in the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) there. What I am feeling this week is gratitude and how I identified it was through a […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, Asking Good Questions, continues the series begun last week.  There we noted that asking good questions is as important as listening well.  After all, a major part of a leader’s job is initiating and building relationships, collaborating to craft a vision and strategies, developing an understanding of the work and desired results, […]

Last week Mary Jordan’s post on the Linkage Leadership Blog showed up in my Inbox.  She is a Principle Consultant and Co-Leader of the Change and Transition Leadership Practice at Linkage, an international consulting practice focusing on developing organizations. We have all heard this admonition to “be still” at various times in our lives.  Usually, at […]

Last week I was attracted to a short piece [1] on networking by Marc Thompson.  Thompson is an author, leadership coach, and investor.  The article’s title, “Why Jeff Bezos, Tony Hsieh and Al Gore Told Me to Stop Networking,” was what caught my eye.  Thompson notes at the beginning of the piece that the typical advice […]

“Humble listening” is among the top four characteristics of leaders.     – Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”     – Henry Ford “To be able […]

For the past three weeks, the Tuesday Readings have focused on one or another facet of employee engagement.  Today, we shift the focus a bit and turn our attention to “Employee Morale.”  Our author is Vi Bergquist, CIO at St Cloud Technical & community college.  Vi’s essay was a recent weekly reflection in one of […]

The past two Tuesday Readings have focused on employee engagement, first, on February 10, 2015, focusing on what employee engagement is and then on February 17, turning to a set of five expectations that employees have of their supervisors.  The data shows that if these expectations are met, engagement will increase.  And, that’s a good thing.  […]

We all encounter tough conversations almost daily.  Today’s Tuesday Reading, How to Override Your Default Reactions in Tough Moments, provides some oft-needed help.  The essay is by Lee Newman, Dean of Innovation and Behavior and a professor of Behavioral Science and Leadership at IE Business School in Madrid, and appeared earlier this year on the HBR Blog Network. […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is actually a short video “’Stop winning so much.’ What?” by Marshall Goldsmith.  Goldsmith is a widely known author – What Got You Hear, Won’t Get You There – and executive coach. He begins this video by recalling a lesson he learned from Peter Drucker, perhaps the world’s authority on management.  In one of their conversations, […]

All of us want to expand the breadth of our networks and build stronger relationships.  Today’s Tuesday Reading, “6 Steps to Turn Strangers into Connections“ which appeared in FastCompany, gives us some helpful suggestions to do just that.  The essay’s author is Stephanie Vozza who writes about business and time management and is the author of The […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is “Mood And Engagement Are Contagious” and first appeared in Joe Folkman’s Forbes column.  Folkman describes himself as “a behavioral statistician who covers evidence-based improvement.”  More conventionally, he is co-founder and president of Zenger-Folkman, a consulting firm that works to improve organizations and the people within them.   There’s not a one […]

The Tuesday Reading for today is “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” a presentation Kelly McGonigal made at TED Global 2013.  (A transcript of the presentation can be found on the talk’s website. McGonigal is a Stanford University psychologist and a leader in the growing field of “science help” which helps us understand and implement the latest […]

The Tuesday Reading today is “What to do in your last 30 days,” an essay written by Helen Norris, 2007 ITLP alum, and until recently Associate CIO at California State University, Sacramento.  As of yesterday (June 2, 2014), Helen became CIO of Chapman University in Orange, California.  In a note to me, she said that […]

This week’s Tuesday Reading is The Dangers of Denial,  an essay by Ron Ashkenas, managing partner of Schaffer Consulting and co-author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organization. The essay first appeared as a posting on the HBR Blog Network.Ashkenas notes that great leaders tell it like it is, focusing on reality no matter how […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is “4 Habits of the Most Resilient People” and is an excerpt from Ready to be a Thought Leader? by Denise Brosseau.  Brosseau is founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Lab.  She has an MBA from Stanford and in 2012 she has honored by the White House as a “Champion of Change.” It’s a […]