Category: Leadership

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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

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Flow: A Curious Method and An Explanation

I was not in a flow state, I was eating lunch; chewing and staring at a few words about flow I’d jotted on paper.  Chewing, chewing, waiting for inspiration.

Which would be more engaging; an article on the concept of flow or one on a method to attain flow?  Could I write this post as a dialogue?  Could I link the method and the content that emerged from the flow state? Continue reading Flow: A Curious Method and An Explanation

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Moving Beyond Our Fear of Appearing Incompetent Into More Creativity

As successful leaders, we know how to act in the face of fear. We calculate risk and reward and step into ambiguity, risk, and constraints every day. But, for many less experienced leaders fear begets inaction while problems fester, disruptors emerge, windows of opportunities close and learning slows. Of course, we don’t allow that happen to us… very often.

No matter how experienced, leaders still feel fear, but what are we actually afraid of? Continue reading Moving Beyond Our Fear of Appearing Incompetent Into More Creativity

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The Introverted Network Builder: An Offering to John Hagel

Buried in a blog post on the measuring your real net worth, John Hagel recently opened this invitation,

I would welcome advice and insight on how introverts (and others) can be more intentional about cultivating the kinds of personal networks that I’ve described above.

So, Mr. Hagel, and all you introverts who might share his question and challenge, here is what I have learned in my years studying and practicing networking as an introvert. Continue reading The Introverted Network Builder: An Offering to John Hagel