The age old question is, “Are leaders made or born?” Of course, the basic answer is usually, “Both.” I’ve answered it that way for years but now, I’m not so sure anymore. I’m beginning to think that we are confusing charisma (magnetism) with leadership.  Charisma is born in, natural, and, frankly. not especially developable. Leadership…

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With all the talk, books, and training around leadership, I’d expect to see a plethora of truly excellent, life-impacting leaders in the world (or at least in my circles). Alas! Not so much. I hear lots of leadership language. I hear lots of leadership words. But what I see is simply boss behavior, boss character,…

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In my career, one of my proudest moments has always been when someone from my team is tapped for a bigger role, often outside of my sphere. I’ve heard people say, “How can you stand to lose her?” or “Wow, what a loss?” And truthfully, it does “hurt” the team for a bit but in…

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This final installment addresses the question of how to turn annual intentions (Parts V-VI) into actions. We all know what the Road to Hell is paved with so, let’s move to actually getting things done! For your annual priorities (business and/or personal), I’ve seen 4 very useful approaches and tools. They are not mutually exclusive…

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In the last publication, we started looking at the annual commitment to Think Time and focused on looking back to learn. In this episode, we’ll talk about dreaming or visioning to gain focus and perspective. Vision is often an abused and maligned term in today’s world…and for good reason. But a vision is actually quite…

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In this fifth installment of Think Time, we’ll focus on the annual time set aside to think, reflect, adjust, and plan. This is not New Year’s Resolution time, the impact of which lasts about 30 days on average. No. This is a time to examine the past year–where you’ve been–and plan for the next year–where…

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In this fourth installment of Think Time, we want to look at building it into your daily routine. It can be very abstract to talk about your “Starbucks Time” and your “Extended Times of Thinking.” These are powerful and necessary but they’re also very easy to plan and ignore. Daily Thinking, on the other hand,…

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In the last installment, we explored getting an hour or two a week to “go to your Starbucks chair” and think. We even provided an outline of things to think about. But, an hour a week is not enough. Few can give more on a regular basis; yet there are things to be mused over…

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THINK TIME (Part 2) In our last post, we discussed the WHY of dedicated think time. In this installment, we’ll begin to look at practical ways to actually make this happen. The place to start (that is both practical and effective) is a weekly slot of time set aside for this purpose. Many of my…

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