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Good leaders don’t need to be right
Read more: Good leaders don’t need to be rightGood leaders care more about getting to the right answer than having the right answer. I was coaching a new leader recently, whose working model of leadership was that the leader comes up with all of the answers. Through our coaching, he said that it was an epiphany to him that his job as a…
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How to make leadership part of your culture
Read more: How to make leadership part of your cultureI talk to a lot of business owners, CEOs, and founders, and not one of them has ever told me: ‘You know what I need? Fewer leaders. There are just too many people leading in my company.’ In fact, it’s most often the opposite; they have a need for more leaders in their growing businesses.…
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What would happen if your people felt free to fail?
Read more: What would happen if your people felt free to fail?A story of leadership from soccer ⚽ Playing the way the coach wants “gives us confidence because we don’t feel any pressure and if we make a mistake it’s his fault, which is the license that he gives us, which is refreshing.” That’s English Premier League soccer player James Maddison, talking about his new manager,…
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Contribution is Key
Read more: Contribution is KeyA plant supervisor I coach told me about something that solidified his belief in his company. And it’s a great lesson for leaders everywhere. This supervisor’s work occasionally took him on location with their customers in other parts of the country. And seeing the huge benefit local communities get from his company’s product, gave him…
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Learn from experience… of others
Read more: Learn from experience… of othersThere’s an old saying that you’ve probably heard. It’s, “Pride comes before the fall,” and it’s one that I think of often. The saying originates with the Bible. Proverbs 16:18 states: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” It’s a reminder that wisdom is eternal – and universal. I see that…
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Staying calm is a choice
Read more: Staying calm is a choiceIn business lots of things can get us worked up – even when we’re not in the midst of a pandemic quarantine. We frequently don’t get to choose our circumstances – but we always get to choose how we respond to those circumstances. That’s what was going through my head yesterday as I was transferring…
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Only Coach the Coachable
Read more: Only Coach the CoachableI’m a third of the way through reading the Trillion Dollar Coach. At the end of chapter three, the authors summarize Bill Campbell’s coaching style: He started by building trust, which only deepened over time. He was highly selective in choosing his coachees; he would only coach the coachable, the humble, hungry lifelong learners. He…
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Resilience > stability
Read more: Resilience > stabilityI recently read Simon Sinek’s latest book, The Infinite Game. It has a lot that can be applied to the current situation we’re in with COVID-19. One I’ve been thinking about the past week is the need to build companies for resiliency rather than stability. And it’s how companies perform in times of crisis that…
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The Purpose, Partners and Plans of Paul
Read more: The Purpose, Partners and Plans of PaulWe’re in Holy Week and today is Maundy Thursday, so I thought it appropriate to post about a sermon my friend Jason Folkerts preached at our church a little over a month ago. Jason preached on Acts 18:1-4. To me, the four verses seemed like an unimportant introduction to the rest of the chapter, but…
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Finding order in chaos
Read more: Finding order in chaosLeaders can’t control their circumstances, but they can always control how they respond to those circumstances. How you respond to a crisis – from a small personnel issue to one as a big as a new coronavirus – determines your ability to lead.
