Tag Archive - Humility

Two Battles All Leaders Must Fight

Business woman going to the open door

Character is the reason most leaders fail, but what causes most of our character failures? Why do some leaders succumb to the temptation to lie or cheat? Why do others avoid confrontations or demean their subordinates? Why do micromanagers micromanage?

Honestly, most resources do not go deep enough and get to the root cause of these failures. They just say, “Don’t do this,” or “Do this instead.” When writing our book, we realized we needed a different approach. We wanted to find the real cause for character failures, and we think we found the cause—actually, two causes! Continue Reading…

What’s A Shepherd Without Sheep

Who Is Following?

Question 1: Are sheep without a shepherd still sheep? Answer: Yes.

Question 2: Is a shepherd without sheep still a shepherd? Answer: No.

A shepherd without sheep is just a hygienically challenged man walking the countryside with a stick in his hands.

Leaders: It is the people that make you a leader not the title!

Continue Reading…

One Thing That Kills Trust

"It's my fault."

Who do I trust? And why do I trust them? There are a lot of things that play a role in whom I trust.

Integrity, consistency, and reliability are just a few. I trust people who display these attributes - most of the time. However, even the most honest, consistent and reliable person will lose my trust if they are arrogant.

Humility inspires trust. Arrogance creates doubt.

Doubt kills trust. Continue Reading…

The Pride that Limits Your Ability to Lead

Superhero. Mature businessman tearing his shirt off over white b

Humility or arrogance? As leaders if we believe we are the most important person in any situation, we begin to limit our own ability to lead.

Our culture seems to celebrate the arrogance of leaders who pound their chests and promote their own accomplishments. But a Leader of Character is a counter-culture leader because a Leader of Character chooses Humility instead of arrogance. The choice is ours. Continue Reading…

Three Ways a Leader Shuts Down Communication

No Feedback is Bad Feedback

Some people are afraid to speak up and challenge the boss. Some people don’t want to put forth the effort. And some just don’t care anymore.

As a result, the leader never hears the truth about himself and his ideas. The people either become silent bystanders or self-serving sycophants.

When a leader asks for feedback and does not get it, who’s fault is it? Continue Reading…

Leaders of Character: Don’t Need The Spotlight

Who Deserves The Spotlight?

Leadership and sports analogies go together like peanut butter and jelly. There are so many bad examples of leadership on display in politics and business, that sports is often the best place to go.

However, when you read the title of this entry, you may now be thinking of sports stars who seem to crave the spotlight. They are the ones who enjoy speaking about themselves and their accomplishments. This entry is not about one of those stars. Continue Reading…

The Quickest Way to Change a Team

Yes - It was a cassette!

Some people would say we were DAL. I prefer to say we were the team that made the Top 71 teams possible. Unfortunately, there were only 72 teams.

I was pushing every button and using every motivational trick I could think of to improve my sales team’s performance. I had never failed before and I was determined not to fail now. I was contemplating firing some people to shake things up. We needed a change. Continue Reading…