Category: Leadership
Want to jump-start self-leadership? Start with Love.
Self-leadership is often understood as you forcing yourself to do things that you don’t really want to do. Instead of starting with grinding things out based purely on your will-power, you should start with figuring out who and what you really love. Leadership, generally speaking, is a confusing thing. Part of the reason why people…
Barbarians to Bureaucrats – Summary and Potential Application – Part 1
Thriving Organizations Every organization goes through a natural life cycle, initially flourishing and growing, maturing and then calcifying, and then often ending with its decay, and usually, its demise. Lawrence M. Miller wrote about this progression in 1989 in his book “Barbarians to Bureaucrats”. He noted that while this cycle is likely, it is not…
Putting in the Hard Mental Work
We love the story of the hard worker, who just strives and strives and finally overcomes their adversity. We would also love this striving to be set to an inspirational music montage and be wrapped up in 60-90 seconds. That should about do it. Unfortunately social media and media in general perpetuates the myth of…
Solving Problems Repeatedly or Once and for All?
Solving the same problem over and over again can be either be immensely frustrating or incredibly lucrative depending on what side of the problem solving equation your standing on. Recently I was asked for updated information on a routine report. The report takes two hours to gather information, set parameters, run the report, review the…
Leadership Paradox or Leadership Conflict?
In Tim Elmore’s The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership there are a list of eight seemingly conflicting attributes that great leaders are able to demonstrate. While seemingly incompatible, Elmore asserts that they are in fact paradoxical, not conflicting…
Leadership and Expectations of Integrity
Leadership has become a risky job. At its best I think that leadership has always been a difficult job, characterized by sacrifice and putting the needs of others before your own. At its worst, it is horribly abused and there is a long list of historical figures to support that position going back to the…
Find Yourself an Expat Mentor or Coach
Finding a mentor or coach as an expat is a tricky process. Generally you don’t know a ton of other expats, and those who you do find often are at very different life stages from you and most are quite busy. So you end up trying to figure out a lot of life through trial…