There is a great image I once saw of someone climbing the ladder of success only to find it was attached to the wrong building; at the top were broken windows and a roof that needed replacing. It’s not always the way we think it will be. I was reminded of that when I was telling my five year-old grand-daughter a new rendition of Cinderella. Life is not always as we expect it … [Read more...]
Women Leaders and Male Partnership
In any learning process, there is a tendency to go to extremes before finding middle ground. Take driving, for example. Most teens start by driving very, very slowly, learning when to accelerate and when to put the brakes on. Then there is a time when we all want to experiment with speed, until either fender hits fender, or a ticket is handed by an unsmiling policeman. Most … [Read more...]
Work for a Jerk?
At one point or another, we have all worked for a jerk. Trending analysis, client feedback and underground communication clearly indicate that mismanaged employees and boundary violations are on the rise. Managing through tough times and poor leaders is often time more difficult than the work itself. Poor leadership can range from an immediate supervisor to poor HR … [Read more...]
Perfection’s Imperfection and the Tiger
One step up from excellence lays perfection. How different are these two concepts? Business excellence can lead us to being better and smarter than the competition, maintaining high standards, striving for leadership, quality, and high service. Perfection can lead us to….the Tiger Woods syndrome! Tiger was a little boy who had a golf club put in his hand as soon as he … [Read more...]
How Much Help is Enough?
There is a pivot point we all need to find between being too caring or too cold when employees have personal issues. Women, hard-wired to be compassionate and consider others first, often get stuck in the caring rather than cold region. Here is an example: Roberta, a valued administrative assistant who does great work and is dedicated to her company had … [Read more...]
Busting Stereotypes
Every once in a while I meet a woman who has quietly taken stereotypes, looked them in the eye and with a quick flick of the wrist lobbed them into the discard pile. Rosie Saez a Senior V.P. of H.R. at Wachovia Bank is a stereotype buster. She has been in the world of banking for over 20 years and has participated in helping change this mainly male dominated world over … [Read more...]
Authentic Leadership
I was recently at the Pa. Governor’s Conference for Women with the theme of “rethink, resolve, renew”. It was a mighty meeting. There is nothing like thousands of women who are claiming their power to partner with their male counterparts in the world of work. One of the sessions was of exceptional interest to me. The theme was about enabling authentic leadership. That word, … [Read more...]
Green Coaching
I recently returned from our home in Santa Fe where the Green Movement can be seen everywhere. There are classes on sustainability, a wonderful farmers’ market with organic everything, throw-away containers that are biodegradable. I started thinking about what makes the green movement so powerful. It is all about how systems operate and cooperate with the laws of nature. So … [Read more...]
Real Power
I was in the presence of a motivational expert who was tall, dark and handsome. By any standards, Hollywood, Wall Street, mothers looking for guys for their daughters, he was a standout. Then he started to talk, and again he got stellar grades. He was engaging, funny, relevant, and deep. He was the kind of guy you want to hang out with, laugh with, and learn from. I must … [Read more...]
Walking the Path of the Leader
Some say life is suffering. Some say life is a bowl of cherries. Some say life is a mystery. Others say life is, well, just life! We can substitute the word leadership for life and we will end up at the same place. Life and leadership are complex, multi-layered, invisible, and challenging. One of the best new books on the subject is by a man who knows how complex life is … [Read more...]