What’s Missing in the Halls of Power?
I spent many a lecture in graduate school waiting for the sages to utter pearls of wisdom. It happened twice, and both times the statements were profoundly simple. Marv Weisbord spoke these words a long time ago and I remember the essence but not the exactness of what he said. I’ve added my own experience to the mix as well. ... Read more »
Do We Need a King & a Queen – A He-Leader & A She-Leader?
In today’s complex world a singular go-it-alone leader won’t suffice. He or she cannot possibly understand or focus on each and all the critical issues. Setting priorities doesn’t help when everything in the web of inter-related factors is equally important.
The President Can’t Do ItConsider the Obama administration. Before assuming office the country entered an ... Read more »
Leadership Leap Frog
Leadership Leap Frog is a game for leaders of the informal or formal variety. It requires multiple players but is more fun and progressive when an entire organization gets involved. The formal leader, the one with the title, goes first by jumping beyond where he was standing and the way he was thinking and behaving. This move is called a ... Read more »
Souls are Paid to Learn at Zappos: Chapter 1 Part 3
“Pursue growth and learning,” is fourth on the list of Zappos’ ten core values, and the shoe seller walks the talk. Zappos employees are paid for mastering new competencies. They receive an incremental raise for becoming certified in any one of the company’s 25 skill sets, and employees choose which competencies to master. They can learn to run a customer service ... Read more »
Cracking the Glass Ceiling Requires Uncommon Practices
Despite the number and variety of programs for women at large corporations such as Deloitte and Touche, General Electric, Procter and Gamble, American Express, etc. the number of women in top leadership roles at major U.S. companies remains relatively unchanged in recent years. For the most part these programs address such things as hiring and developing ... Read more »
The Corporate Soul Series
Welcome to the Corporate Soul series featuring people and companies who bring soul to work. It is also a forum for sharing ideas that advance this practice. After all “Life is just a chance to grow a soul.” A. Powell Davies (Thanks to SCJoson who writes about economic sense in a world of invisible money ... Read more »
Women in Leadership: At the Cross-Roads (written by a man)
Laura J. Daley , a savvy business woman, turned me on to a terrific well-written article about the future of women in large corporations and the future of corporations if they don’t succeed in getting more women to top leadership roles. Andrés Tapia, Hewett’s Chief Diversity Officer and Emerging Workforce Solutions Leader says more women in leadership ... Read more »
Good Leaders SEE INTO the FUTURE
The Forbes article What Wall Street Needs Now includes “Good Leaders Recognize When Patterns Change,” as the first item on their list. Well, that’s not good enough for me and it shouldn’t be good enough for you. Once the pattern changes everyone can see it, and a good leader should not be in the crowd. She should be ahead ... Read more »
Harvard Asks “Why So Few Women CEOs?” and Publishes the Answer
The Numbers
Meg Whitman is the only woman in Harvard Business Review’s landmark study ranking the 100 best performing CEOs. Of the 2000 companies examined only 29 were headed by women. HBR then posted an article asking “Why so Few?” My reply appeared in the March print edition. The full text of the response appears below.
This Discussion Needs to be Reframed
What ... Read more »
Fixing the Hole in the Corporate Soul
With twos ounces of boldness and one of anxiety I submitted a requested article to the editor of a business journal this past week. Why the anxiety? I used the word “soul” – not just once but twice. After hitting the send button I sat back and imagined ... Read more »