Good food is all about timing, intention, and a willingness to experiment. Leadership is no different. So, this holiday, let’s take a detour from boring leadership jargon and straight into the heart of the kitchen—a place where raw ingredients transform into something magic. Great leadership, like great food, can feed the soul. Here are the essential ingredients for the perfect leadership dish.
Remote and hybrid work models have reshaped the workplace, with high-performing leaders often excelling due to their autonomy, discipline, and results-oriented approach, while lower-performing employees may struggle without direct supervision. Research, such as the Stanford University study, highlights the benefits of hybrid work, particularly in enhancing productivity and retention, though challenges arise when remote work is poorly managed. The future of work requires organizations to balance flexibility and accountability, fostering environments that empower diverse employees and adapt to changing expectations.
This post explores the critical role of strategic planning and visioning in helping organizations navigate uncertainty and long-term challenges. It emphasizes the importance of staying at a strategic level, resisting the pull toward immediate tactical fixes, and focusing on the pillars that drive success: leadership, innovation, operations, and customer focus. With actionable steps and insights, it provides a framework for crafting meaningful, future-oriented plans that transform strategic dreams into achievable realities.
True innovation exists at the intersection of trust, vulnerability, and constructive conflict. As leaders, our role is to create the conditions for innovation to thrive. That means checking our egos, fostering trust, and modeling vulnerability. It means leaning into conflict, embracing discomfort, and having the courage to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality.
When teaching or coaching emerging leaders, one topic I push hard on is values. Values refer to the fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that define what an individual, organization, or community stands for. These principles act as a moral and operational compass, influencing behavior, decision-making, and culture. They are part of the magic three: mission, vision and values.
The One Page Strategy (OPS) has helped me put all my strategic and yearly plans and goals all on one sheet. The idea is that by putting it on one sheet you can look at it throughout the year to make progress on those goals.
Not only are all your goals and projects on one sheet, it also holds you accountable as you look at it from time to time throughout the year to measure your effectiveness in achieving your goals.
In a Wall Street Journal Career Strategies article, Most Promotions Take Place in January, Study Finds, depending on the industry, a study finds June, July, and September are also popular months for job advancement. This is a great window of time to build on your strengths, neutralize your weaknesses, and demonstrate why your boss should take notice. Here are a couple of maverick thoughts of our own with ways to become indispensable this summer.
As leaders there's always one behavior or another we're trying to shape or change in others. What about the chronic latecomer, the constant complainer and the time management challenged? We attempt to give constructive feedback, help them set goals or focus on teamwork and continuous improvement. Sometimes it clicks; sometimes it doesn’t. Do you know how much our habits actually impact our behavior choices (which is either what you’re trying to stop in others or grow in others), or how habits can by-pass our decision-making function?
This past week, wearing my other hat as chamber director for southwestern Vermont, I had the pleasure to present at the Vermont Tourism Summit in Burlington, Vermont. My topic was on “Building Your Brand With Local Talent.” Now, because of my job and my background, the presentation was heavy on marketing tactics. However, I was able to weave in some of my other passion - motivating teams.
Right, makes sense! With all the strategy and tools to get the marketing job done, we still have the fundamental challenge of human beings leading the charge. We still need to make sure our staff, teammates or freelancers are happy. This is where I often weaved in our CAMP Method of Motivation.
Right around this time of year, I find that my immune system just gives out. I had tried my hardest, forced as much sun-soaked vitamin D in our northeast summers, popped the multitude of good-for-you vitamins, washed my hands every time I could, alas I tend to get a cold during March or April. I think this New England body just runs out of reserves.
Equally, it can seem that way at work, at the gym, working on projects. We enter the new year with such gusto, however when we get past the first quarter of the year, the tyranny of the urgent can take our eyes off of the goal. We lose focus.
Results of a study conducted by Manchester, Inc. of 100 leaders primarily from Fortune 100 companies found that among the benefits that organizations received from providing coaching to leaders were improvements in productivity (reported by 53% of leaders), quality (48%), and organizational strength (48%). Among the benefits to leaders who received coaching were improved working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of leaders), working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%), teamwork (67%).
Many of those that have gone through one of my workshops know that I despise the word manager. It’s too sterile and authoritarian. It doesn’t describe the actual purpose of the role. When you have entered the arena of manager (welcome!), you take on a new role. You are no longer suppose to make the widgets, work in the weeds, mow the lawn! Yes, you doing so well at those jobs probably got you there, but it is important to know when you receive the title of manager, supervisor or coach, you are putting down your widget making ability and picking up the skillsets of guiding a team to success!
What makes a boss a bully? I believe that bully bosses think very highly of themselves, in fact to a certain degree they believe they are the only ones with the correct answers. Interestingly, this often shows up in mid-process, not in the beginning. Some will allow people to get started on a project or task, because they don’t fully know how to do it themselves. They will often not participate in the development of ideas, but focus instead on critiquing ideas once they are generated. Others will berate staff for not having answers early enough in a project and will supply all the answers from the start.
You probably aren’t going to have to do a TED talk anytime soon in your near future. However, we all have to present, communicate and convince other people. Asking for that salary raise? Discussing the new project with your team? Needing to get buy in from stakeholders? Speaking in front of your board? This all requires crushing it during the presentation. Presentation skills, I believe, are one of the most undervalued, least taught, and difficult skill for many leaders to master. Here are 40 tips, hints and facts that I practice, use routinely and hope you find some help with: crushing your next presentation…
