High-Powered Couples With Kids: Don't Make It Harder On Yourselves — Try This
I'm always rooting for couples. I want them to "win." I'm always cheered when someone tells me, with feeling, "I'm happily married." So I'm always pained when couples... More
The Value of Griping
When I bump into my neighbor, who happens to be a CEO, it's the same sad song, the same resentful lament. "I'm so frustrated," he says. Anytime somebody says with feeling... More
Blemished
At our very first meeting EmmaJean bared her soul—uncharacteristically, I later learned. "Look," she said, emphatically, "If I'm going to get anything out of this, I... More
More Is Better, Up To A Point — and Then It's Worse
Too much of a good thing—you've heard that before. Strengths taken to an extreme are weaknesses—that's not news. Chances are, though, you haven't seen that reality... More
Can leaders change their basic character?
"Holy shit! What a revelatory experience," wrote Charlotte Frye, who did not normally swear. A first-time CEO with one year on the job, she had just completed a two-day... More
Ego Leakage
Does your ego leak, even a little? Mine does. I’m sure I don’t know the half of it. I do notice a tendency to enthuse about something I’ve just experienced—an... More
How The Industrial Revolution Got Traction - And Brought Us Tomorrow
The industrial revolution changed the world completely and, it seems, irreversibly, yet how it all began is not common knowledge. Most people have only a vague or patchy... More
Getting at a Leader's Essential Character
When leaders are assessed to help them improve or to make staffing decisions, the final product—typically a set of strengths and weaknesses—is a superficial read that... More
Are You "Em" - Powerful? - The Unabashed Assertiveness In Granting Power
Empowerment has turned into a buzzword that’s lost its meaning. We all know what it looks like to be powerful—or, using today’s euphemism, influential—but how clear a... More
Working On Yourself - Pleasant In Its Unpleasantness?
Offered the opportunity to work on himself, his first brush with intensive leadership development, Larry Wheeler* told his wife, “I need this like a hole in the head.” In... More