Most of us have difficulty articulating our struggles in a public forum, especially in the presence of our boss and peers. This probably stems from history we may have with bosses who said things like: “Don’t come to me with a problem, come to me with a solution!” When you think about it this creates exactly the opposite of the environment an effective leader wants. If people have problems, you want to...

Power is an interesting concept when leading and working within organizations. Power is not always just as it appears on the organizational chart! Just because someone’s box is higher up on the chart does not always mean that they have the most power. For example, take the following case study: One person is a senior vice president, two levels down from the CEO. One person is the administrative assistant to the...

One of my favorite stories is a lesson about taking responsibility for our own lives. It is about learning to respond rather than react when we are confronted by “life”. I heard this simple Buddhist story many years ago, and it goes like this: A young farmer paddled his boat vigorously up river. He was covered with sweat as he paddled his boat upstream to deliver his produce to the village. It was a hot day,...

Leaders often fall into the trap that they “need to delegate” more. For some reason, they’ve been led to believe that delegation is always a good thing. It’s not! If you delegate to someone who isn’t ready for the task or to someone who doesn’t want the responsibility, you will have a disaster on your hands. So, how can you do a better job of delegating? My first suggestion in tr...

Every once in a while, you have a moment of clarity, a flash of insight into what you really want, who you really want to be, how you really want to live your life. Can you recall a few of these glimpses? I’ve had three such flashes of “temporary sanity” in my life. The first was years and years ago. I broke my neck surfing. I thought I would never walk again. For many months I went through an incred...

Do you get more when you give more? I believe so, yes. Our values are key to designing our lives, to becoming the people we want to be, to creating the life we want. If we live our values, it shows. For instance, my values are generosity and teaching. So, I give all of my material away on my website. You can copy, share, download, and duplicate it, it’s all free. In return for giving, I get more wonderful people in...

My friend, designer Ayse Birsel, recently taught me an incredibly powerful way to be more successful. Of course, as you know success is defined by the person who wants to achieve it. Success could be a new job, a better relationship with your spouse, a great school for your kids, a bigger salary, or all of the above. Everyone is different. This exercise will work for anyone! For me, success is achieving my mission: helping...

Recently I was at a workshop with my good friend designer Ayse Birsel. Ayse has created a program that helps leaders Design the Life You Love. During the program, Ayse asked us (the participants) to list our heroes.I made my list. Here are some of the people who were on my list.Frances Hesselbein, Former Girl Scout CEOAlan Mulally, Former Ford CEOPaul Hersey, Co-creator of Situational Leadership®Peter Drucker, Father of Mod...

Can being disciplined make you happy? This is an interesting question that most people don’t think about. At least, they don’t think about it in the way that I’m going to talk about it here.Most people think that if they are disciplined with their exercise they will get in or stay in good physical shape. Most people trust that if they spend time studying for a test they will likely pass. Most people believe that if they are...

My good friend, designer Ayse Birsel, has taught me a wonderful new and fun way to make amazing changes in my life. She calls her process Design the Life You Love. If you’re like me and you really want to change, try her process. It will help you become the person you want to be and design a life you will love!First, a little background, according to Ayse, “Life, just like a design problem, is full of constraints?—?time, mo...