Posts with the ‘Character’ tag
One of the best books I ever read on leadership was John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In fact, I recently gave a copy to a young man who just graduated from high school as a gift. 28 years ago, I was a recent high school graduate as well. I was a brand new […]
What is the definition of character? Character is our habitual way of operating. HOW we are is WHO we are. Our character is ultimately determined by our habits. If I am in the habit of doing what is moral and right, I am a person of high character. If I am in the habit of […]
Ask a veteran why they served and you will likely hear the word Duty in the explanation. The concept of Duty still runs deep in military circles. Many people use the word Duty to describe the list of tasks in a job description. But the idea of Duty goes well beyond a “to do list.” Duty seems […]
They were in their robes and ready to be done with high school. I was the only thing between them and graduation and the family celebrations to follow. As the keynote speaker, I knew I better keep it short and do everything I could to make it memorable. I spoke about the choices they all […]
Business magazines publish article after article discussing a company’s culture. The articles often focus on perks, the color of the office walls, or the fact there is a ping pong table where the conference table used to be. Who cares! I don’t care that I get to play ping pong at work if I can’t […]
Who would you rather follow? A gray haired veteran who has two kids in college or a recently promoted 30 year old former cheerleader? To me, neither of these descriptions gives me enough information. I have seen both types lead well and both types act like spoiled adolescents. The differentiator between leaders is often maturity. […]
Imagine a company that truly lived by its values. Imagine a company where Trust was a core value. What would it be like to work for a company that habitually operated like the values they espouse?
Last month, I spoke to over 700 people about the role of courage in leadership. I had 10 minutes to speak. Courage goes beyond the physical courage displayed by our soldiers on the battlefield. Moral courage is needed from leaders in the hallways and boardrooms of businesses and non-profits as well. Click on the image […]
I knew some brilliant people in high school. They made good grades and graduated without even trying. They went to good colleges and got impressive degrees. I also knew some people in high school who struggled with grades. Try as they might, they fought to make it to graduation day. Some went to community college […]
At 2:30 in the afternoon, I took a risk. An audience of 700 people had been listening to best selling leadership gurus since 8:00 AM. Now I had 10 minutes to make an impact on this group. I decided to change the first half of my talk and ask the 700 attendees to actively participate […]
