“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” ~John Maxwell Defining an Extraordinary Leader The question of what defines an extraordinary leader has been argued back and forth for centuries. In some ways what determined the greatness of a leader was determined by the culture…
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~John Quincy Adams Follow the leader is a game many of us played when we were children. The rules were simple: do what the leader does or get kicked out of the game and the…
In today’s world there is quite a bit of discussion about the word authority, and for the most part it has a tendency to be spoken of in a negative context. We too easily associate it with force, brutality, and manipulation, which is far from its original meaning. Force is about control and is the…
“Success is all about what we do for ourselves, significance is all about what we do for others.” ~ Cole A. Randall There is a story about a man who spent his life chasing success. He ran as hard and as fast as he could and surpassed every milestone that he had set for himself. And…
“Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one.” ~Percy Belcher Over the course of the last 25 years I have had numerous opportunities to Coach leaders in a variety of positions. There have been quite a few times when someone from HR or a leader reaches out because…
“In order to burnout a person needs to have been on fire…at one time!” ~ Ayala Pines The path to becoming fully “alive” as a leader begins when you are aligned with your purpose – your reason for living. And as you get clarity and awareness of your own path, you are then able to…
“The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities.” ~ Benjamin E. Mays A few years ago, I wrote a…
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~ President John Quincy Adams Not very long ago, I had the opportunity to kick off a new group for our, Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others™ Program. It is an advanced learning experience that…
“Leadership is influence.” ~ John C. Maxwell One of the biggest challenges facing a leader is the ability to step back and influence others to get results. The key is to get results without doing the work yourself or micromanaging your folks into becoming clones so they do the work the exact same way you would.…
“To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as for the picture.” ~Pablo Picasso Being a leader is a…