Strategy

… the practice of being alone with your thoughts   When we think of solitude, if indeed we ever turn to that subject, we may be apprehensive and cringe at the thought of being alone and the silence that implies.  Researchers have noted that most people would prefer to do just about anything rather than […]

… to Enhance Your Leadership  Brian McDonald is the author of today’s Tuesday Reading.  He is the president of MOR Associates an organization he founded in 1983 based on the belief that many organizations do not maximize the contribution most people want to make at work.  More recently, he has led the development of the […]

Making and Keeping New Year’s Promises (a.k.a. Resolutions) It’s nine days into 2018 and most of us who made New Year’s resolutions still remember them.  New Year’s resolutions are neither new nor unique to modern humanity.  Babylonians made New Year’s Resolutions some 4,000 years ago.  In their celebrations, they made promises to their gods to […]

… you (we all) need one Marty Jordan, human resources consultant at Linkage, Inc., tells us that “we are a society obsessed with activity and view inactivity as being lazy.”  She goes on to note that “We’re conditioned to be overworked and to believe that if, at any point, we aren’t doing something that resembles […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading – The Twelve Days of MOR – is an essay by Christy McCollum, Director of Administration, Washington University Information Technology.  [Christy may be reached at [email protected].]  Her essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year. «««»»»   The Twelve Days of MOR, also known as MOR Maxims, is a game changing, customized leadership development […]

… conjunction (joining two words, phrases, or clauses) as in   “Rachel plays the piano and sings.”  (macmillandictionary.com) Eric McNulty, director of research at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, notes that over the years words like “paradigm shift,” “synergy,” “sustainability,” “resilience,” “agile,” “lean,” as well as others have come onto the stage, and often inform new […]

…  You May Want To Give IT a Try Kristin Wong, a Los Angeles journalist and writer, who contributes to the New York Times and other publications, found herself approached by a stranger at a grocery store asking if she needed help.  He had heard her talking to herself out loud, in public.  She had […]

At least with my family, preparation for Thanksgiving dinner began several weeks ago as decisions were made about where we would gather and who would prepare and bring what food to share.  It’s always a wonderful time to get as many family members as can come together to express our thanks for another year and […]

Your Most Precious Resource Each of us has 24 hours each day and 168 hours each week for work and everything else – commuting, eating lunch, taking breaks during our work, organized activities including time with family and friends, exercise, religious activities, team sports, play, rest, and sleep, etc.  And, no matter how hard we […]

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 […]

… Not you?  Research says that 95% of us do procrastinate. We all procrastinate!  Research by Piers Steel found that about 95% of us do and several other researchers suspect that the remaining 5% of us are, shall we say, stretching the truth. So, two questions:  Why do we procrastinate?  And, what can we do […]

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 […]

… Hunting, Fishing, Trawling Every organization has hidden leaders.  They’re everywhere.  They consistently step up to deal with client problems, with intractable issues, with extra effort to meet an unusual request from a key client, etc.  We often don’t think of such individuals as leaders, after all they don’t have a positional title that would […]

Requires that you continue learning Last spring I spoke at my undergraduate college, Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, at their 2017 Undergraduate Research EXPO.  As I reflected on the Tuesday Reading to begin the 2017-2018 Academic Year, it occurred to me that a version of my remarks there, which ultimately focused on continuing to learn, […]

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 […]