Leadership

05.10.2016
Michigan State – Building Leadership Community
The attached is part of a series of case studies supporting our clients as they recognize leading change is a campaign and engaging others in that process is critical as they move ideas forward in their environment. Enjoy! And thanks to Jim Willson from MSU for partnering with us on this write up. MSU-Case-Study-Building-Leadership-Community.pdf

04.26.2016
Leadership Competencies
You can find many lists of leadership competencies. Some result from a careful examination of the work in a particular job family or from role descriptions. Some come from discussions about what it takes to be a really good leader in a mid-level position at, say, an education institution. Other lists are developed based on […]

04.12.2016
Giving Credit
Today’s Tuesday Reading, Giving Credit, is an essay by Anna Lynch, Manager, Online Instructional Design, eLearning Design & Services, and Julie Parmenter, Manager, Enterprise Decision Support Services, at Indiana University’s University Information Technology Services. Many of us at Indiana University attended the Information Technology Statewide Conference last fall where we heard CIO Brad Wheeler and IU […]

03.18.2016
NYU Case Study – Building Leadership Community
The first in a series of case studies supporting our clients as they think about the process of engaging others to move ideas forward in their environment. Enjoy! And thanks to Evan Silberman from NYU for partnering with us on this write up. NYU-Case-Study-Building-Leadership-Community.pdf

03.15.2016
Get Enough Sleep? REALLY?
Last Sunday morning most of us experienced a disruptive event in our sleeping as we shifted our physical and mental clocks forward one hour to Daylight Saving Time. This wasn’t all that unusual since most of us regularly disrupt our sleep. And, in spite of our frequent claims – “I don’t need sleep,” “I can […]
03.10.2016
AHA
Mike Dewey is Director of Campus Services in the Office of Information Technology at Rice University. He leads groups that provide desktop computing support and help desk services. He is also interim director of the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarly Technologies group. To be honest, I did not know what to expect when my CIO asked […]

02.02.2016
6 Questions
In a recent Linkage Blog post – “Got 20 Minutes? Try the 6-question approach to coaching” – Sarah Briegle points to a Marshall Goldsmith video clip where Goldsmith describes a six-question coaching approach that a leader can use with each of a his or her direct reports. (Linkage is an international leadership development consultancy, Sarah […]

01.26.2016
Being Accountable
Being accountable is your ticket to earning the right to hold others accountable. –– Dan McCarthy In the course of our work, we develop strategies, we make plans, and assign or delegate the resulting tasks to teams (usually, through their team lead) or to individuals. As we do this, we start the process […]

01.12.2016
I Met A Leader Today
Today’s Tuesday Reading, I Met A Leader Today, is an essay by Mary Fuller, originally written as a reflection early in the University of Nebraska on-campus leaders program. Mary is a member of the Data Warehouse Team of the University of Nebraska Computing Services Network. I left our first 2-day session of the MOR Leaders […]
01.11.2016
New Leader = Sum of (4 I’s + 4 E’s + 5 P’s + 3 Lenses + 4 A’s + 4 S’s + Spheres of Influence)
After graduation in August I was armed with a binder full of new ideas, concepts, practices and formulas on how to be an effective leader. I found it easy to be intentional during the program which was fueled by my own enthusiasm and frequent and very useful check-ins from my coaches. New actions and practices […]
01.05.2016
Connections
At the end of October, I returned to my alma mater, Earlham College, for homecoming festivities, Alumni Council meetings, and related events. What really struck me about the extended weekend was how the theme of “connections” was constantly evident. On Thursday evening, dozens of alumni met with students in a networking session. Alumni who attend consistently […]
01.05.2016
Shepherding Potential
I am constantly looking for new leadership lessons. When I am a student or trainee, I observe how the instructor structures the class, presents information, and keeps the room engaged. As a sports fan, I pay attention to how a coach organizes the team, creates energy toward a shared goal, and adapts to change. Over […]
12.08.2015
Trust
A Leadership Reflection Last week I attended two retirement parties. As I reflected about them afterwards, there were a few key points that they made during their speeches that I would like to share with the group. Trust is so important. Establishing an environment of trust-based relationships encourages creativity, self initiative, and incredible productivity fostered by […]
11.19.2015
Power of Coaching – A Personal Reflective Journey
I would like to share my personal reflective journey to date, from the beginning. I was invited to attend the MOR Advanced Leadership Program by my CIO at the beginning of the summer. As one of the newest members of the OIT management/leadership team I immediately had two scenarios go through my mind. I haven’t been […]

11.17.2015
Meetings
We all attend too many meetings. Some are initiated by others and we attend to contribute. And some are our meetings, designed to further our team’s work. Some of them are productive and some are not. And, everyone I’ve talked to yearns for fewer of them. This week’s Tuesday Reading is drawn from Amy Gallo’s essay […]

10.27.2015
Your To Do List and Your Calendar
I’ve attempted to maintain and effectively use a To Do list for much of my professional life. At the moment, I have an application (Things) on my laptop, my iPhone, and my iPad that keeps the list synchronized. This is really helpful, and would be even more helpful if I was good at keeping the […]

10.20.2015
Leadership Lessons from the Battle of Gettysburg
July 1, 2013 was the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. In the course of that three-day battle, the armies of the North and South deployed some 180,000 troops on the field of battle and suffered some 51,000 casualties and the course of American history was forever changed. Much has been written about the […]

10.13.2015
Learning to Lead
Our Tuesday Reading today is drawn from Robert Steven Kaplan’s new book, What You Really Need to Lead. Kaplan was recently named President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Previously he was the Martin Marshall Professor of Management Practice and a Senior Associate Dean at the Harvard Business School. In a review of […]

10.06.2015
Five Leadership Lessons of Frank Underwood
Today’s Tuesday Reading, The Five Leadership Lessons of Frank Underwood, is an essay written by Dustin Atkins last June. Dustin is the Director of IT, Sponsored Research & Strategic Communications at Clemson University and is an alumnus of the MOR Leaders Program. In the spirit of bringing you all to South Carolina, I thought I […]
09.24.2015
Brave is Good/Prepared is Better – Networking is Good/Investing is Better – Lessons are Good/Change is Better
As I sit here before our last dinner and day together as a formal group, I remember our first day together and my inherent skepticism about whether this program would be much different from other leadership programs. I seem to have neglected the obvious difference between one week long leadership programs and eight month long […]