Here's a cornucopia of Great Leadership headlines:
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Great Leadership News
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The July 5th Leadership Development Carnival
Most are probably reading this on Monday, so welcome back from the July 4th Holiday weekend! Yes, it's time to back to work. But not just yet... first, why not kill a little time while looking busy - and by learning a LOT about leadership. It'll help work the cramps out of your brain.
I love this month's collection - many of our regulars, and nothing but the best.
We'll start off the fireworks with next month's Carnival host, Mary Jo Asmus presenting How to Silence Others posted at Intentional Leadership.
We have three of the top 10 finalists from the Best of Leadership Blogs 2009 competition (don't forget to vote during the month of July for a chance to win prizes and pick your favorite leadership blog!): Scott Eblin, Steve Roesler, and Becky Robinson:
There's a message for leaders in the lives of Gov. Mark Sanford and entertainer Michael Jackson. Know when enough is enough. Scott Eblin presents Michael Jackson, Mark Sanford and the Human Condition posted at Next Level Blog.
We all debate the "characteristics" of effective leadership. How often do we deliberately discuss wisdom, discernment, and integrity? Steve Roesler presents All Things Workplace: Wisdom, Discernment, Integrity and Business posted at All Things Workplace.
Authenticity and integrity are important qualities for any leader. This post uses a real life example to express the differences between them. Becky Robinson presents Sunlight Through the South Window: Authenticity, Integrity, and a Life Well Lived posted at Mountain State University LeaderTalk.
Wally Bock may not know the secret of life, but he thinks he knows the secret of great supervision (Dan's note: he really does). Wally Bock presents One Thing You can do to Supervise Better posted at Three Star Leadership Blog.
Chris Young presents Employee Performance Accountability - Do Your Employees Know What Is Expected of Them? posted at Maximize Possibility Blog.
Alice Snell presents Engaging Prime Talent posted at Taleo Blog - Talent Management Solutions.
Thought-leading companies are not just thinking about succession, they are thinking about the entire leadership pipeline. Meg Bear presents Leadership Pipeline vs. Succession Planning posted at TalentedApps.
Are you having a tough time keeping your personal and professional lives separated online? Yes? Good. Jason Seiden presents Ethics, social media, and… profersonalism. posted at Next Generation Talent Development.
The term “leadership” is extraordinarily plastic. So much so, in fact, that discussions about one sort of leader can be viewed by advocates of another sort as misguided, if not insulting, without anyone being the wiser that the concepts they have in mind are distinctly different, if not even mutually incompatible. Jim Stroup presents Static leadership posted at Managing Leadership.
The effects that hypocrisy, not the lies, cheating or illegal actions, but the fact that they are done by supposed leaders who vehemently preach a different course, have in fostering today's kids' cynicism. Miki Saxon presents Hypocrisy Leads To A Cynical Future posted at Leadership Turn.
Leadership can be defined as the act of motivating people to achieve a common goal. It is doing the right thing for the right reasons. It is taking action, no matter the consequences. Leadership is vision, purpose, courage, discipline and passion. On this American Independence Day, let us remember that leadership is an action verb. Sometimes...it can change the "course of human events." Tom Magness presents Independent Leaders posted at Leader Business.
Regardless of your role in an organization, personal accountability is key. Sharlyn Lauby presents Taking Ownership posted at hr bartender.
Michael Lee Stallard presents Intrapreneurs: Find a Work Environment that Helps You Thrive posted at Michael Lee Stallard.
One of the founders of the rock band 38 Special talks with Wayne Turmel about team building and creating teams that rock. Wayne Turmel presents The Cranky Middle Manager Show #195 Rock and Roll Team Building with Jeff Carlisi posted at TPN :: The Cranky Middle Manager Show.
A timely post on one of the most important issues we face-trust. In a time where trustworthy advice is scarce, this piece probes deeper into why trust is so important. Eric Pennington presents A Matter Of Trust posted at Epic Living - Leadership Development Career Management Training Executive Life Coaching Author.
Anna Farmery presents Learning whilst living.... posted at The Engaging Brand.
What does it take to transmit bold new ideas to people who don’t want to hear them? How can the language you use facilitate enthusiastic, energetic implementation? John Agno presents How do you lead change? posted at Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog.
Leaders, like Brett Favre, need to know when to "let go." Erik Samdahl presents Don't Be Like Brett Favre posted at Kevin Oakes.
Time Magazine recently caused a stir when they published the results of research that strongly suggested that Facebook (and other social networking sites) caused graduate students to suffer lower grades. Simon Stapleton presents Does Facebook Flunk Your Performance Review? posted at ACE Your Performance Review.
This is a guest post by a good friend who does a great job of bringing out principles from experiences of kindergartners. Michael Ray Hopkin presents Guest Post: Leadership Lessons from a Kindergarten Class posted at Lead on Purpose.
Nick McCormick presents No Time to Think posted at Joe and Wanda on Management.
Mark Stelzner presents SHRM 2009 - Observations & Conclusions posted at Inflexion Point.
The project manager’s basic strengths may consist - leadership, teamwork management, good communication skills (with clients and co-workers), analytic thinking, prioritization, highly motivated person, initiator and an highly opinioned worker. This article provides wide-ranging project management interview questions and answers for project manager (PMO, and for product manager) position. nissim ziv presents Project Management Interview Questions and Answers posted at Job Interview Guide.
You have been aked to present. Oh no! Where do you start? Here are several questions that will help you prepare: Great Management Tips presents The Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Publicly Speak posted at Great Management Tips.
When it comes to offering constructive feedback for a team’s or individual’s performance, it’s better to reinforce good behavior, than react to bad. Benjamin presents Develop Outstanding Employees Utilizing Effective Feedback posted at Leadership Type.
Susan White presents 100 Free Quizzes for Your Self-Improvement and Awareness posted at Online College Reviews - College Ratings. (Dan's note: not really a leadership post, but a pretty cool collection of free assessments)
Keith Tusing presents The Importance of the Huddle posted at Children's Ministry Buzz.
Shawn M. Driscoll presents It's Time to Kick Mediocrity to the Curb posted at Shawn Driscoll.
Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, but there are a few fundamental traits which separate them from everyone else: John Anyasor presents Three Staple Qualities of a Leader posted at HiLife2B.
Peter Cantelo presents 11 Steps To Being A Better Leader posted at vivavi.co.uk.
That's it for this month's edition! Now time to get to work. )-:
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Leadership Development Conferences and Workshops
A question from a reader:
I am curious, have you done any posts on the best leadership development conferences for professionals in the field? There seem to be a lot out there and am just wondering how we can maximize our time and resources.
Thanks!
I have not, but I've been meaning to put together a list for a while now, so thanks for providing the motivation.
When it comes to conferences for leadership development professionals, it's going to be a short list. There are LOT'S of leadership conferences (I just wrote a post on the GILD), and plenty others for HR and training, but not so many that I'm aware of for just our field. When I searched for "workshops" or "Talent Management", I was able to find a few more.
Readers, please comment and add to the list if I missed any.
1. Linkage's the Best Practices in Leadership Development
Linkage's 13th Annual Best Practices in Leadership Development Summit: Tools, Processes & Systems for Developing Leaders is the one place where those who are responsible for accelerating the development of managers, executives, and leaders in their organizations can come each year to learn the state-of-the-art in their profession. Thought leaders, world-class practitioners, and expert instructors form an elite faculty to help attendees produce the results expected of them. Benchmark against the best in the industry and dramatically increase your know-how and ability to succeed in your role.
Date: Oct 18-20, 2009
Length: 3 Days
Location: San Diego, CA
Price: $1,195.00
2. The Conference Board's Leadership Development Conference
If you are accountable for selecting, developing and retaining leaders; if you are charged
with ensuring the depth and breadth of your leaders’ competencies and ability to perform;
if you are responsible for succession management and leadership development, this is
one conference you can’t afford to miss.
Date: June 4 – June 5, 2009 (about the same time every year)
Length: 2 days
Location: San Diego, CA
Price: $ 2,495
3. The Conference Board's Succession Management Conference
The 2009 Succession Management Conference: Resetting and Recalibrating Your Succession Plan is designed to help our organizations continue to develop their processes. We begin with a pre–conference l/2 day workshop on October 20th that will take you through a diagnosis of your current succession management process and help you to develop an action plan moving forward. This will be followed by our day and a half conference which will feature sessions on various parts of the SM process to help participants with areas that they need to reset or recalibrate or put in place. The conference will also feature sessions from organizations that are taking advantage of this period of time to prepare for executive succession and key position successions in new and creative ways.
Date: October 21 – October 22, 2009
Length: 2 days
Location: New York, NY
Price: $ 2,495
4. The Strategic HR Network's Leadership and Talent Management Conference
Now in it’s 5th year the Strategic HR Network, the leading forum for HR Directors, presents a one day conference looking at the latest developments in leadership and talent management.
Date: September 9th 2009
Length: 1 day
Location: London
Price: £499 + VAT
5. The Center for Creative Leadership's Leadership Development for HR Professionals
Developed through a collaboration between CCL and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), this program prepares you to become a more effective leader of people and processes. It focuses on self-awareness, proven methods of building leadership skills, and ways you can positively impact the organization's business strategy.
Date: August & October 2009
Length: 5 days
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Price: $6800
6. The Center for Effective Organization's Collective Leadership Development
This seminar will explain how to overcome the shortcomings of the old model of individual development. Leadership development experts Jay Conger, Susan Resnick West, Trina Soske, and Michael Markovit will guide you through the evolving terrain of collective leadership development and show you how to refocus your organization's leadership development efforts around collective leadership development.
Date: September 16-17, 2009
Length: 2 days
Location: Los Angeles
Cost: $1750
7. IQPC's Annual Talent Management Conference
The largest industry gathering of talent management professionals returns to exciting Chicago! Guaranteed to invigorate and improve your talent management strategy, The 12th Annual Talent Management Summit will bring together Fortune 500 leaders to share their recession-proof strategies.
Date: October 26 - 28, 2009
Length: 2 days
Location: Chicago
Cost: $2499
Readers - are there others that you would recommend?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Best of Leadership Blogs 2009
I'm honored to have been nominated for the third annual Best of Leadership Blogs 2009 competition, hosted by Kevin Eikenberry at Remarkable Leadership.
Leading Blog by Michael McKinney
Take a look at them all, and I'd sure appreciate your vote if you think it's derserved.
Here's more on the competition from Kevin:
Thank-you for your support!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
ARGHHHHH! My new boss is 30-something with absolutely no leadership or management experience!
An email from a reader:
ARGHHHHH!
My new boss is 30-something with absolutely no leadership or management experience. We are a group of 10 field-based employees with backgrounds that range from brand new to the role all the way to PhD and everything in-between.
This woman is driving us all nuts with her knee-jerk reactions (project assistant sends an email reminder about time cards; then so does she. One team member sends her snail mail to boss's old address and the entire team has to re-send our CURRENT address for an "up-dated roster" and 3 emails about timelines.)
We are frequently 'blind-sided' by taking initiatives on our own....never knowing if we will be punished or praised.
This boss has favorites, but it's nice that they rotate without knowledge or reason....quietly wait for your turn to be in-her-good-light!
I hear little about my company goals, her goals or my goals. It is nose to the grind stone.
I LOVE WHAT I DO FOR WORK but hate the constant worry of one tiny slip up. I have to use my peers when I have a question or a problem as this woman can (knee-jerk) the wrong answer at 9 am and then rescind it at 3:20 pm!
I have gone to next layer of management with examples and asked for help. No obvious response from this except now all my emails are addressed by my given name, not my nickname.
Any ideas of how and old goat like me can get this problem dealt with? The team will not go above her seeing that I had little response and we all need jobs!
Thanks for your insight!
Reader, you’re not alone. Dealing with seemingly nutty bosses has been a part of work life since the dawn of time. I can empathize with your situation. It’s usually not the work that stresses us out or causes us to want to quit – it’s the manager and/or co-workers.
It sounds like to you your new manager is coming across as scatter-brained, inconsistent, playing favorites, and unpredictable, and to make matters worse, you’re getting no support from your boss’s manager.
Whenever I get these “help me my boss is driving me nuts” emails, I always try to take a look at the situation from both sides, although I never get the opportunity of hearing the other side directly. And quite frankly, given that my blog is a leadership & management blog, I may even give the manager more of a benefit of the doubt.
So my answers aren’t always what the reader wants to hear. In your case, however, it sounds like you have a legitimate gripe.
Here are a few options for you to consider:
1. Keep it in perspective, it could be worse.
Take a look at Stanley Bing’s Crazy Boss blog. It’s filled with horror stories from readers about crazy, narcissistic, and bully bosses that makes me want to laugh and then cry.
Here’s an example:
“My boss came into my department one day and was trying to get us to hurry an order that was to be picked up by the customer. The time frame from when the order was taken and the time they were picking it up was not even realistic. Nevertheless, we were working as fast as we could. But he just lost it and starting jumping up and down. He then laid on the floor on his back and started kicking his feet in the air like a bicycle and yelling, "just go, go, go, go."... His dad (the owner) was standing next to him and told him to get up off the floor and come outside for some conversation. He was about 34 years old at the time. I am glad there were two other witnesses in the room at the time, although I doubt his dad will ever admit it happened to anyone (which is part of the problem). This is one story of many.”
Misery loves company, and it might make you feel relatively better about yours.
2. We could outlaw bad bosses or turn to the government for a bailout.
Not.
3. Complain to your boss’s manager and/or HR
It’s sounds like you’ve already tried a version of this and it didn’t work. I’m not surprised; I’ve been there. I was once elected to take a sensitive issue to our manager in a meeting, and when I did and she overreacted, all of my peers all developed a sudden case of group laryngitis.
I’ve never been an advocate of taking issues over my manager’s head or to HR. In my experience, as an employee, manager, and HR manager, it has a higher potential to backfire and do more harm than good.
Although, not always. One of my best friend’s manager was driving him crazy and doing all sorts of abusive things to him. He asked me for advice. I told him to ride it out while he looks for another job, and not to go to HR. If he did, he’d probably be labeled a trouble maker and it wouldn’t serve him well in the long run. He wisely ignored my advice, went to HR, his manager was fired, and he was promoted.
OK, so it can work….but not usually.
Yes, you could just cope, suffer in silence, lower your expectations, raise your tolerance level, etc… This is sometimes an OK strategy in the short term. I’ve been around a lot of bad bosses, and usually (not always), it catches up to them. Organizations generally in a Darwinian kind of way weed out incompetence.
5. Try to help your new manager be successful.
It looks like your manager is going the same painful learning curve most new managers go through. I think I made 50% of my managerial mistakes in the first year. Does your company offer any kind of training program for its new managers? Unfortunately, many don’t. If they did, they could speed up that learning curve, minimize those mistakes, and do us all a favor.
Even if she did go through training, she’s still going to make mistakes – its part of the learning process.
While I’m sure it’s been hard on you and your team, she doesn’t sound evil based on your description. She may have good intentions and just be tripping over herself. Given your experience, and perhaps informal leadership amongst your peers, have you tried helping her in a genuinely caring and constructive way? I know these are extremely tricky conversations to have, so I’d recommend reading the book Crucial Conversations in order to improve your chances of success.
5. When all else fails, leave.
I don’t like this option for you, because you love your job. But it’s a last resort – we all have choices when it comes to our jobs; no one’s a prisoner.
I hope this helps. Maybe a few of my readers may have a few more ideas for you, or want to disagree with mine.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A Conflict of Interest?
Friday, June 26, 2009
A Better Brand of Leadership
Guest post by Dave Esler and Myra Kruger, authors of The Pursuit of Something Better:
This two-dimensional accountability for both the “what” and the “how” means that U.S. Cellular is one of the few companies on the planet where making the numbers – getting results – is not enough to win a leader job security, let along praise and honor. A result that is achieved the wrong way – in a way that violates the letter or spirit of the Dynamic Organization – does not count. Leaders would do better to fall short of a goal than to reach it unethically, or by taking advantage of a customer, or by treating peers, employees, vendors, or even competitors with disrespect.
The values-based leadership required by Jack Rooney insists on examining the messy details implied by “how?” and “why?” It may be less efficient than the “no questions asked” variety, and it takes time to reach critical mass; but now that U.S. Cellular has developed hundreds of leaders with the ability not only to get things done, but to go beyond the numbers to change lives for the better, it has a unique competitive advantage with limitless potential.
The Carnival of HR!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Beware of Cult-like Leadership Development Programs
I've been writing about wacky leadership development programs for a while now. These are silly, ineffective, but well intended programs designed to teach leadership using all kinds of "creative" training techniques. These programs, although a waste of a company's money, are basically harmless and can even be fun.
What I'm about to describe isn't harmless or fun. In fact, these programs can be dangerous. They can cause serious emotional and psychological damage, lower employee morale and productivity, and expose a company to costly lawsuits.
Do I have your attention? Good; then please read on. If you are a training manager, HR manager, training provider, or a buyer of training programs, it's absolutely critical that you are aware of this.
The kind of leadership training, or personal development training I'm talking about has been described as "cult-like" and "new-age" training.
However, these are not how the programs are described when marketed. You're more likely to see descriptors like:
- Personal Transformation,
- Transformational leadership,
- Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT),
- Imagination and creativity,
- Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and
- Self-help and self-actualization.
This stuff has been going on since the 1970's, and despite the warnings, lawsuits, and damage, they continue to spawn and emerge led by an army of disciples. Some of the early versions were Krone training, Erhard seminars, est, the Forum, and Lifespring. Here's a list of Large Group Awareness Training companies and their founders.
Today's popular versions include Tony Robbins, PSI Seminars, the Landmark Forum, and Pecos River.
So what's the problem? I'm no expert in the subject, so rather than repeat what's already been said very well, I'll defer to the following, and encourage you to read each one of these articles for a 30 minute tutorial on the subject:
1. Intruding into the Workplace, an excerpt from the book Cults In Our Midst, by Dr. Margaret Singer
2. The Siren Call of the Modern Pied Pipers, by Lawrence A. Pile
3. EEOC Notice N-915.022: Policy guidance on "new age" training programs which conflict with employees' religious beliefs
4. The Skeptic's Dictionary
5. And finally, for a more light-hearted view, read Dave Barry's hysterical description of his own personal 12 hour experience, Altered States.
There are countless more websites, articles, and books on the topic. However, most trainers, HR pros, and managers I talk to, especially those new to their jobs, are completely unaware of the potential dangers.
Now, I'm not saying that all of these programs are dangerous or bad. It's just that for corporate leadership development, we need to be aware of the potential problems and be informed. For example, if someone says they don't want to participate in one of these problems, then you better not make it mandatory, or there could be serious civil rights consequences.
You also have to ask yourself if employers have any business intruding into their employee's personal value and belief systems. There's some moral and ethical considerations to think about. Personally, I don't think there's any need for this stuff in the workplace. Companies should be concerned with performance, skills, and behaviors. What goes on in an employee's head or heart is none of their damn business.
We also need to be upfront with our employees and let them know what they are getting in to, so they can make their own informed choices.
How do you know the training you are considering might be crossing the line into possible cult-like brainwashing?
1. There is secrecy around the processes and techniques used. "It can't be described, it has to be experienced" is what you'll hear. "Don't tell anyone about it, we don't want you to spoil it for others". Bull. Demand program objectives, outline, and a complete description.
2. Programs built on the ideas and/or leadership of one charismatic person. I'm always skeptical about any training program that's referred to by someones name, i.e., "Tony Robbins training", "Covey training", "Kroning", etc...
3. You have nagging doubts about the facilitators, staff or program content. Something just doesn't "feel" right. They act a little too "enlightened".
4. You get challenging, defensive or discounting responses to your questions about the program.
5. You get vague or over-general promises of participant success.
6. "Hard-sell" tactics. Pressure on graduates to recruit more participants. In corporations, individuals and departments are often pressured to "get with the program", and seen as resistant if they choose not to participate.
7. An unfamiliar set of jargon are used to describe key concepts of the programs.
9. It's impossible to measure and evaluate the outcomes.
10. Any of the following techniques are used: fire walking, chanting, hypnosis, meditation, massage, yoga, biofeedback, bizarre relaxation techniques, mind control, visualization, overly aggressive "attack" confrontational techniques, or excessive hugging and crying.
Any one of these by themselves is probably harmless, but if you pick up on three of more, then buyer beware.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
How to Fix Succession Planning
Marshall Goldsmith and Patricia Wheeler’s latest edition of Leading News has a great article on succession planning that I have permission from Marshall to share.
The article resonates with me because I’m one of those guys who’s designed and managed “A” succession planning systems and processes but sometimes feel like I’m getting “C” results.
We’ll have our performance potential discussions, fill out talent profiles, create IDPs, design and deliver great leadership development programs, do coaching, provide feedback, and yet at the end of the day, benches are still too thin, key positions are filled with external hires, and CEOs and Boards are still not completely satisfied. According to Marshall, most of them are pretty dissatisfied.
So why is that? In his role as a trusted coach and advisor to a lot of CEOs, Marshall and his partner, Jim Moore, have some valuable insights to share on what’s wrong with succession planning and how to fix it…..
Four Tips for Efficient Succession Planning
One of the most common leadership development questions that I hear from executives is, "Why does succession planning feel like such a waste of time?"
The head of engineering is a high performing leader who has the potential to be COO. She has always been in an engineering role. If she had sales experience, she would be even more ready to be the COO so her development plan is written to include a job move to be head of sales. However, this company would never take the risk of putting someone without sales experience in the top sales job — so her development plan perpetually says, "move to a sales job" even though that will never happen.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
5% Discount for The Global Institute for Leadership Development
Are you looking for an outstanding leadership development opportunity? Then the Global Institute for Leadership Development might be just the ticket for you.
The Global Institute for Leadership Development (GILD) is a development experience for leaders and leadership teams that provides transformational growth in areas proven to differentiate superior from average leaders. The core of the experience is a 5-day immersion program that integrates the best learning methods employed by university executive education programs, leadership academies, and large-scale, global conferences to deliver accelerated growth.
GILD is much more than your typical executive development program or conference. It's an integrated leadership development experience that includes:
Based on a leadership model co-developed and modified over the past decade by Warren Bennis and Phil Harkins, that identifies the factors that distinguish superior leaders from average leaders.
2. World-class faculty
A combination of renowned leaders, great teachers, and proven behavioral change experts, including:
- Marshall Goldsmith
- Patrick Lencioni
- Robert Kaplan
- Tom Crum
- Carly Fiorina
- Bob Knowling
- Richard Boyatzis
3. A 360° leadership assessment
Used by over 100,000 leaders worldwide over the last 10 years
4. Executive coaching
Expert executive coaches meet with participants a minimum of three times (twice at GILD, once after GILD) to create and execute a focused development plan
5. Learning team workouts
Small, highly relevant, facilitated peer-groups where key learning is processed, knowledge sharing occurs, and action plans are developed
6. The Year of Learning
A sustainable, year-long learning process that combines online alumni networking with a carefully designed curriculum of leadership resources to create long-term growth
So you'll get access to some of the top thinkers in leadership development, a 360 assessment based on a proven leadership model, your own personal executive coach, plenty of structured networking and idea sharing with other senior and rising leaders, and a full year of structured ongoing development. If you were to pay for all of these separately, you could spend well over $20,000, with a lack of cohesiveness.
The cost of GILD? $5,495!
To top it off, it takes place in one of my favorite cities, San Diego, October 18-23.
Want to learn more? Use this link to:
1. View a GILD video presentation:"A Leadership Journey at GILD"
2. Learn about Ten Tactics for Leading in Hard Times (free whitepaper download)
3. Get a 5% discount!
How to get the 5% discount:
Even though it is past the 5/29 early registration discount, I've been assured by the folks at GILD that Great Leadership readers will still get a 5% discount if you include priority code GILD09-DPM when you register.









