Read more about the article Leadership | How to Keep Smart People from Killing Each Other

Leadership | How to Keep Smart People from Killing Each Other

How to Keep Smart People from Killing Each Other

This phrase is powerful in so many ways.

Smart people can often be prima donnas – I’ve heard those accusations myself … the first part, of course, not the second (and typically disguised in less elegant terms) … but the brilliance of some people is often more blinding than enlightening.

Fortune magazine recently asked Dr. Mehmet Oz about the best leadership advice he had ever received.

Keep Smart People from Killing Each Other

As a Chief Resident associated with Columbia University, Dr. Oz’ mentor told him that the hardest part of being a leader was “keeping smart people from killing each other.” (more…)

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Read more about the article Leadership | The past offers no forgiveness for today’s transgressions!

Leadership | The past offers no forgiveness for today’s transgressions!

History showing old booksWhat’s missing? Why do we keep wrestling with the same issues that we’ve examined and discussed throughout our careers?

That’s what makes it both fascinating … and painful … to be reminded about our timeless journey and our ongoing struggle to find the right balance to fulfill the lives we envision for ourselves.

“To be or not to be that is the question.”

I’ve always been intrigued by Shakespeare’s line … not only because of its famous lineage, but because so few know the words that follow and give the phrase its power:

(more…)

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Read more about the article Why are the biggest challenges the hardest to kill?

Why are the biggest challenges the hardest to kill?

What Does It Take to be a Great Leader?

Every Tuesday, we’re sharing valuable and practical leadership tips and tools to help you BE a better leader so you can BECOME a better leader. Remember … you won’t BECOME a better leader until you start BEING a better leader … implementing NOW the changes necessary to adopt the proven strategies of successful leaders. You might start by building on the communication matrix and making sure you’re defending the castle to get done what only you can do. Make sure to take some time so you’re thinking past today. Don’t forget our 12 part Leadership series and #100 of my newspaper columns.

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Why are the biggest challenges the hardest to kill?

The magical mystery tour continues with another retrospective about some of the subjects covered in my first 100 columns … seriously? … the “first 100”? (Is that a threat or a promise?)

As I considered my earlier columns, I was struck that none of these issues has really gone away. We’re continually battling the same challenges … occasionally finding temporary resolution or respite, but so often juggling so many of them that we don’t take time to resolve any of them. Why are we stuck in that do-loop? That’s a conundrum we’ll attack in a forthcoming column.

“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.” ~ Andrew Grove

“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

These quotes launched a few columns about leadership succession in the wake of the sudden terminations of the Merrill Lynch and Citicorp CEOs as the mortgage portfolios held on Wall Street imploded on the eve of the Great Recession. My focus, however, was more about how these colossal organizations, so dependent upon talented, international leadership teams, did not have a management succession plan in place. (more…)

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Read more about the article #100 – Building a Business: What have we learned in 4 years?

#100 – Building a Business: What have we learned in 4 years?

What Does It Take to be a Great Leader?

Every Tuesday, we’re sharing valuable and practical leadership tips and tools to help you BE a better leader so you can BECOME a better leader. Remember … you won’t BECOME a better leader until you start BEING a better leader … implementing NOW the changes necessary to adopt the proven strategies of successful leaders. You might start by building on the communication matrix and making sure you’re defending the castle to get done what only you can do. Make sure to take some time so you’re thinking past today. Don’t forget our 12 part Leadership series.

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Finally, Column No. 100?

If I haven’t put you to sleep yet, you’re not reading every one of my columns published in the local New York Times affiliate … and guess what? By my count, this column is a milestone as column #100. Has anyone else written that many … other than the Editor in Chief, of course?

Have I been listening in on your conversations?

This journey began in the Fall, 2007 and for the most part, bi-weekly since then. The only exception is the most recent L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P. series that was published over 12 consecutive weeks. Most of the columns have climbed around the monkey bars at the intersection of Strategy, Finance & Leadership, but according to several keen observers, I’ve also listened in on their boardroom conversations. Others have said they recognized themselves in my examples … I’ll never tell … and some have even said, “stop writing about me”. We’ll never know if it was intentional or accidental, will we?

What are some of the most important concepts in Building a Business? (more…)

Continue Reading#100 – Building a Business: What have we learned in 4 years?