In the process of gaining experience as a leader, I became fascinated by how many flawed human beings were around me. It was as though I had been cursed with a special magnet that only drew people to me who were imperfect. But there they were. It wasn’t until I had been in several leadership […]

The current leader of Finland (the PM) is Sanna Marin, a woman elected to office in 2019, at age 34. Just last month, she led her country to the threshold of joining NATO, which will greatly strengthen its defensive military capabilities and ability to protect its borders and citizens. On another note, she recently was

M&A (and other major business life events) are inherently disruptive. Although it will probably sound counterintuitive, these are times when leaders must balance the very real command-and-control requirements with overt expressions of empathy and understanding. It is the team members on both sides that will make it work, or not. A readily visible demonstration of

In an earlier blog post (Make M&A & Other Difficult Transitions Work: Lead with Your Ears), I suggested a couple of communication tips for leaders interacting with employees in the midst of M&A and other disruptive organizational transitions. I wrote, “A couple of tips for leaders in these kinds of (one-on-one or group) communications. Be

Leaders cannot help but hear the “voice” in their heads that second-guesses everything they do. The voice that represents everything that could go wrong under their guidance and direction. It is a loud and persistent voice both for new leaders and for those forced out of their comfort zones (all of us). The voice speaks

Attracting high-performing people to any endeavor is challenging. Keeping them is even more difficult. On average, 47 percent of high-performing employees left their companies in 2019, the year before the arrival of COVID-19. In 2021, over 47 million more citizens (just in the US) voluntarily quit their jobs. The replacement of high performers is an

“Overnight success” is an oxymoron (or outright mischaracterization) in most cases. One of the most powerful contexts for this comes from the inimitable Bill Gates. “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into

I was recently contacted by executive coach, interim leader, and outstanding change agent, Michelle DeAngelis, https://www.michelleinc.com/ about speaking to the leadership team of one of her clients on the topic of “scaling leadership.” This sent me on a search to understand why this was an important topic for the management of a global company with