Author: Stephen

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Questions: Humane Leadership Power Tool

 

Doubt is the origin of wisdom

RENE DESCARTES

Doubting our own assumptions and thought patterns is a great place to start any pursuit of wise, humane leadership.

In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

Curiosity is the key to:

  • The scientific method
  • Insight
  • Refined thinking and behavior
  • Human connection

Continue reading Questions: Humane Leadership Power Tool

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Creative Self Emergence and Rilke’s Poetry

If we are lucky enough to move beyond our basic needs for safety and belonging, we can begin the process of earning the esteem of ourselves and others.  A few lucky souls even get to move toward self actualization in Maslow’s model.

But, for many, leadership opportunities look like nurturing their own and other’s creative self emergence. Continue reading Creative Self Emergence and Rilke’s Poetry

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Leading With Operating Metaphors

I was scared and the team was concerned. I stood in front of fifty expectant and dubious faces–the newly combined sales and order processing team. Within a few months, we had to:

  • Eliminate a nasty conflict that divided the team
  • Move half the team to a combined space
  • Remove two order processing and tracking systems
  • Re-engineer the entire sales and order process
  • Double the size of the team

I knew the physics of change: to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The more we tried to do the greater the resistance from the team and the organization would be. I started up my PowerPoint and hoped my unorthodox approach worked. Continue reading Leading With Operating Metaphors