Leadership

Who me?  Never! Most of us would disavow being a micromanager.  Yet, I’m sure that most of us (dare I say, all of us?) have micromanaged to some extent at some points in our lives.  I know that I have.  And, most of us at some point have had a micromanager as our manager.  David Allen, […]

Several weeks ago, Amazon’s Leadership Principles surfaced in my reading.  I was so impressed by their breadth and scope that I wanted to share them with you, along with a brief summary, focusing on how they might apply in higher education, of each of the 14 points. In Amazon’s notes on these Principles, the company emphasizes that […]

Are you listening? Hearing and listening.  We hear when sound waves reach our ears and are converted into neural signals by the inner ear.  We choose to listen when we intentionally let those neural signals impact us.  This is why we can sit in a busy place totally immersed in our reading or in a […]

I’ve written before on grit (see here), about having stamina, about sticking with what you’ve chosen or been led to do, your future, day in, day out, not just for a week, nor for a month, but for years, working really hard to make that future a reality.  Grit is a marathon, not a sprint.  […]

Last week, during the closing session’s CIO Panel at one of the MOR Leaders Programs, every CIO on the panel commented on the importance of trust.  Earlier in the session in a similar vein, I had noted that followers want leaders who are credible, trustworthy, leaders who do what they say they will do.  Max […]

How to Get Up to Speed in Your New Leadership Role  Today’s Tuesday Reading is the Harvard Business Review Whiteboard Session (video) “How to Get Up to Speed in Your New Leadership Role” featuring Michael Watkins.  Watkins is President of Genesis Advisors, a leadership consultancy that supports companies and leaders coping with transition.  He is […]

Then, Ask for It! Over the past years I’ve written a number of Tuesday Readings about feedback.  (See here and here for example.)  In this set of readings, I explored both why and how we should give and receive feedback as well other aspects of the subject.  And, I have particularly encouraged leaders to give feedback to their staff […]

Ingredients:  A challenging topic, participants, rules and processes for conducting the conversation, (if the number of participants is large), and a “container.” Today, we live in an age where the “art” and “practice” of having a conversation, a discourse, on a challenging, perhaps very complicated and controversial, subject has become dim.  We don’t take the time for face-to-face interactions on either […]

One of the central tenets of leadership is that you put your leadership skills to work wherever you are.  This follows from a strong belief that leadership is not about a position or a title but rather the simple idea that leadership is more about a set of skills that you can develop and make […]

Sue Workman, Vice President of University Technology, at Case Western Reserve University, keynote video at the 2017 MOR Leaders Conference.  Video of 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Sue Workman, Case Western Reserve University 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Sue Workman, Case Western Reserve University

Anne Margulies, Vice President and University CIO, at Harvard University, keynote video at the 2017 MOR Leaders Conference.  Video of 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Anne Margulies, Harvard University 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Anne Margulies, Harvard University

Mark Askren, Vice President for IT and CIO, at the University of Nebraska, keynote video at the 2017 MOR Leaders Conference.  Video of 2017 MOR Leaders Conference keynote, Mark Askren, University of Nebraska Mark Askren 2017 MOR Leaders Conference

Almost every time I travel from Cambridge to Boston, I cross the Longfellow Bridge.  The central piers of the bridge feature four carved, ornamental stone towers, which give rise to another name for the bridge, the “Salt and Pepper Bridge,” which many of us still use.  Originally opening in 1906, the bridge replaced previous bridges and […]

We are born problem solvers!  From the moment you wake in the morning until you are fast asleep at night, you are at the ready, just waiting for the next problem to arise. Now, some of the problems are simple and repetitive, like, for example, what do I do when the alarm goes off signaling […]

A few years ago, Charles Duhigg, who you likely know through his earlier book The Power of Habit, was interviewing people at exceptionally productive companies for his 2016 book Smarter Faster Better:  The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business.”  As he did this, he often asked for help in solving a family problem:  […]

As young children, one of the first things we began to do after we had learned to talk is to ask questions.  Our brains thirst for information, for knowledge, to understand.  Paul Sloane, author of the Innovative Leader, tells us that asking questions is the simplest and most effective way of learning.  So, if as […]

Stop it!  It simply isn’t good for you. In last week’s Tuesday Reading, Busyness as a Proxy for Productivity, Shane Anderson, talked about his multitasking in meetings in order to meet deadlines and complete his work.  He discovered, when he stopped multitasking, that there was a lot of important content in the meetings that he simply […]

Only look back if that is where you want to be. Today’s Tuesday Reading, Don’t Look Back, is an essay by Scott Orr, Manager, Research and Infrastructure Computing, Dean’s Office, School of Science, Indiana University.  The essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year. Our last Indiana MOR Leaders Workshop focused on influencing others and […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading, The Measurement of a Leader, is an essay by Jeff Sherrill, Assistant Director for Information Technology, College of Business Administration, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.  The essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year. Last year, I read the memoirs of Union General and later President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant.  I was really […]

We have all grown up in a give and take world.  Remember the times when you were small and were either willing to share your toys and stuffed animals with your older/younger siblings, or wanted to accumulate as many of them as possible whether you were playing with them or not, or were willing to […]