Servant Leadership & Technology
The sport of Curling makes an excellent analogy for servant leadership. In this sport, each player must lead in a way, but the Sweeper is like the servant leader. The Skip sets a stone in motion toward a target. As the stone slides along the ice, the Skip then calls directions to the Sweepers. Sweepers [...]
Bleeding out (“exsanguination” in medical terms) is death caused by the loss of blood from a wound. In business, the term could be used to describe a similar death. Wounded by one event, the organization fails to recover and slowly bleeds to death. Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it [...]
Donald Trump is the epitome of power-based leadership. For example, the man wanted to trademark his catch phrase, “You’re fired!”, which would require every organization using this phrase to pay him tribute. Therefore, “The Donald” makes for an excellent study on the personal effects of power-based leadership. Former Fan When I graduated college, I idolized [...]
The Scenario: An Unrealistic Demand While working for a large, rapidly expanding non-profit, I was tasked with upgrading the organization’s technology. We anticipated doubling in scale over 12 months. Adding to the challenge was an already understaffed technology department, supporting antiquated technology. The task was daunting, but we had an amazing team. My boss, the [...]
Storms that may seem destructive, often bring positive results. A leadership storm can have the same impact. A good leader that enters a bad situation (drought), needs to make tough decisions (storm), but the positive results are undeniable (growth). The Drought Preceding storming leadership is often a drought. This drought is a time of difficult challenges [...]
Looking back on your career & leadership from your deathbed, will you be A) Happy & content or B) Sad & full of regret? It’s not too late to change your answer.
Great leadership requires authentic accountability. However, toxic leaders practice artificial accountability while the servant leader is authentic in practice.
As a leader, do you keep your stakeholders on speed dial or do you push snail mail updates? The difference says a lot about what type of leader you are.
We can learn much of the allure of toxic leadership in business through comparison to a similarly detrimental force in our society – pornography.
