Vision without Strategy is a Recipe for Failure “Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around,” wrote Warren Bennis. Yet too often we confuse these traits. We’re trained to see people and organizations in terms of their charm. …

A Guide from a Recovering Perfectionist “Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving,” advised Neil Gaiman in his sixth rule of writing and David Foster Wallace similarly warned, “If your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything.” …

Stop Being Such a Boss “Leadership is the ability to facilitate movement in the needed direction and have people feel good about it,” wrote Tom Smith. Managers tend to focus on the first part of that advice but neglect the second. …

Six Easy Tips to Avoid Public Embarrassment Everyone’s staring at me, and I don’t know what to do. I’m standing in front of maybe twenty-five technicians, and I’m supposed to give an impromptu speech. No one told me I was going to be doing this. I had nothing prepared and…

Great Leaders Don’t Burn Their Ships When Hernan Cortez landed his fleet in Veracruz to begin his conquest of the Aztec Empire, he told his crew to burn his ships. One officer made the mistake of questioning the order and was immediately killed. As the story goes, the rest of…

It’s a Sign of Strength “If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically,” said Dale Carnegie, offering some of the best advice that almost everyone ignores. Apologies are a rare occurrence in today’s organizations. People tend to associate saying they’re sorry with admitting weakness. …

And How to Avoid Them I finished my presentation and looked around the room. I was sure that I nailed it. The case for action was clear. I covered all the points I wanted to make. Now I just needed to secure everyone’s support for the proposal. I scanned the…

Be a Better Leader in Twenty Seconds “We all need people who will give us feedback,” said Bill Gates. “That’s how we improve.” And yet, too often, that’s the very thing that holds most people back. …

It’s a Practice for Cowards “I think I’m being quiet fired,” my friend Erin told me. I had no idea what she was talking about. Quiet fired? Like what happened to Milton in Office Space? Is that actually happening to people? It turns out that yes, yes it is. Erin…