Leadership

This week we return to Rick Brenner’s Chaco Canyon newsletter for the column “Asking Brilliant Questions“.  Throughout the leaders program we encourage participants to ask questions:  You do that as you are being present, you do it in meetings to draw out information from your colleagues, you do that as you coach.  In this column, […]

Today, I’m sending along references to two pieces from Rick Brenner’s Chaco Canyon Consulting email newsletter on empathy. The Merriam-Webster OnLine dictionary tells us that empathy is “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having […]

In the March 3, 2007 issue of The Wall Street Journal’s Journal Report there was an interesting piece by James Kelly and Scott Nadler titled “Leading From Below.”  They note that CEOs — and I would add leaders in general — cannot change organizations on their own.  They suggest that the secret is to foster a […]

Several weeks ago I was pointed to UBS’s Knowledge Center and a short piece True Leaders Must “Walk the Floor.”  This piece reinforces the importance of communicating with staff.  It notes that many leaders have found that interacting with their staff by walking around can build relationships, help staff understand their leader’s goals, and provide […]

Today’s reading, Seven Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Top IT Talent, which comes from the January 4, 2007 issue of CIO, is just as applicable to other fields as it is to IT.   Business 2.0 reports what seems to be an amazing data point:  For every two baby boomers who retire in the next […]

The title “Talking to People is Great – Listening is Priceless” says it all.  You’ll find this piece at the Unique Business Solutions Knowledge Center, http://www.unique-solutionsinc.com/knowledge/article_20061004_105.html.    Enjoy………………jim

Today’s reading is the Work-Life Balance column from the December 19, 2006 issue of The Economist.  The column, which can be found at,  http://www.economist.com/business/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8450071 has two short notes:  “Consumer technologies are invading corporate computing”  and “Executive toys.” In these pieces, the question is raised as to whether it is time to begin using publicly available web […]

Happy New Year!  I trust that you successfully rang out the old and in the new, perhaps made some resolutions (or goals) for the year, and are now ready to address what is before you with new energy and excitement.  Today’s reading comes from Rick Brenner of Chaco Canyon Consulting.  Rick notes that throughout the […]

It’s the day after Christmas and many of you are still on holiday.  However, I thought I’d send a quick note along. We have all learned about the importance of asking the “right” questions, questions that help us get at underlying issues, questions that help us think, and questions that help others move issues forward.  […]

Most of the time we interact with others — fellow members of a team, colleagues assembled for a particular issue, individuals we meet by happenstance — to get work done.  In “We Are All People,” Rick Brenner of Chaco Canyon Consulting reminds us that we are all people, different people, and that we have one common […]

Who’s Sorry Now? http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16816&ch=infotech Jason Pontin, Editor in Chief of MIT’s Technology Review, reviews Pip Coburn’s “The Change Function:  Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn.” Coburn was managing director of the technology group of UBS Investment Research during the technology run-up of the late 1990s.  While his focus in on customer’s […]

Today, I turn to Rick Brenner’s Chaco Canyon Newsletter for a piece — If Only I Had Known — that spans two issues: 1.    http://www.chacocanyon.com/pointlookout/060531.shtml 2.    http://www.chacocanyon.com/pointlookout/060607.shtml In this piece Rick asks whether you have ever regretted saying something that you wouldn’t have said if only you had known just one more little fact? He […]

I found this piece —     Why Everyone in an Enterprise Can — and Should — Be a Leader http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=printArticle&ID=893   — which was originally published in December 2003 recently and thought it was really worth sharing.  Based upon work by individuals at Wharton and McKinsey, it points out that everyone, no matter their […]

It is very hard to get our work done without collaboration.  Sometimes those collaborators are on our team, sometimes in our organization, sometimes they are elsewhere in our university, and sometimes they are outside our university in suppliers, government agencies, etc.  When collaboration occurs things go well.  But sometimes it doesn’t;  our needed collaborators resist, […]

As all of your know by now, I read a lot from a lot of sources. Yesterday, a newsletter called Marketplace Moments written by a friend, Randy Kilgore, reached my desk.  It carries a story which I want to repeat:   “It’s December 17, 1941. The citizens of the town of North Platte, Nebraska heard […]

Rick Brenner of Chaco Canyon Consulting here in Boston has a weekly email newsletter called Point Lookout.  I like Rick’s writing because it typically leads you to think about a subject from a different point of view.  This is truly the case in this weeks reading “FedEx,  Flocks and Frames of Reference.”  In the piece […]

Marshall Goldsmith is one of the country’s leading executive coaches. Today’s reading is his column from the July 2005 issue of Fast Company:   http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/96/mgoldsmith.html   In this column Goldsmith talks about the importance of being a great listener.  He says that in listening “Your only aim is to let the other person feel that […]

One of my favorite books on leadership is Leadership Jazz by Max DePree. Max was chairman of the board of Herman Miller for many years. Leadership Jazz is primarily a set of personal stories about leadership. I first read the book about 10 years ago and have found that rereading it as well as a […]

Good morning!   In my reading this week, I found this short piece by John Baldoni.  In it he talks about the foundational importance of importance and suggests that you can nurture it by “inviting them to look up,” by “letting them see you sweat,” by “learning from your mistakes,” and by “radiating hope.” Enjoy…………..jim Weigh In: A Matter […]

I’ve attached another very helpful note authored by John Baldoni about how leaders can be helpful, graciously.   I think that you will find the comments useful…………….jim ON LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION Being Helpful — Graciously BY : John Baldoni 03/01/2005 Lessons in the management art that goes one step beyond. One of Franklin Roosevelt’s favorite things to do during […]