More than 35 years ago I become the pastor of a small rural church in Sugarcreek, Ohio. In those early days, people would often ask me what my vision was. As I was recruiting a team, the question became more frequent. I told them my vision was to influence, impact, and bring change to the world. I could sense their reaction. Though few were directly unkind, very few took me seriously. I could feel their rolled eyes and skepticism. They would figuratively pat me on my head, th

That sounds strange, doesn’t it? We always talk about leaders learning—what is it that leaders have to unlearn? Learning can be an intentional process of letting go, reframing, and moving away from once-useful mindsets and behaviors, a conscious pattern, a process of actively reviewing, and a voluntary effort to eliminate outdated knowledge and discard obsolete practices. Unlearning is about challenging the established and questioning the accepted. It is not about ignoring wh

Most everyone talks much about work culture or company culture. The bottom line is that culture is who you hire. If you currently have a healthy workplace culture it should be protected and intensely guarded. Hiring the wrong person can disrupt everything. It can destroy trust, lower performance, create division in the organization, cause good employees to leave, change your message, create negative or sideways energy, lose customers, and harm your brand. When looking for a n

Perfectionism is often viewed as a positive quality. We assume that perfectionists are indeed perfect, and who wouldn’t want to be perfect? Perfectionists generally meet their goals and feel accomplished. But there is a dark and dangerous side of perfectionism. When we are truly a clinical perfectionist we can go so far that we harm ourselves, our mental health, performance, and general wellbeing. Extreme perfectionism places immense pressure on us to meet extremely high, eve

Warren Buffett said, “We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don't have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you're going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.” Essentially Buffet is saying something we have likely learned to our sorrow: Intelligence and initiative are important, but integrity is what matters most. Integrity is defi

Leaders are learners. In fact, a well-known leadership proverb says that the day you stop learning is the day you stop leading. We are always learning for the job we have: We are reading, going to conferences, developing new skills, and so forth. But the vital questions that need to be asked along with this, that really prove you are a learner are, “What are you learning from your job, from the people around you? What are you learning from their feedback, from your mistakes a

A mentor of mine has always challenged me that I cannot manage or lead people from where I wish they were, but that I must manage and lead them where they are. I believe this is a real problem in leadership circles. We lead people from where we wish they were. That means we have a tendency to point instead of being engaged. For years, the Gallup organization has been conducting an annual survey of U.S. employee engagement. Gallup’s most recent poll reveals that only 36% of e

Do you know anyone who seems to prefer complaining about their circumstances to changing them? We all have reasons, explanations, or excuses for why things are the way they are, but bottom line—we are in charge of most of the things we allow in our lives. If there is something you truly can’t change, you need to change your attitude about it. Complaining alone never solves anything. Change requires action, and refusing to act is acceptance of the situation. Don’t complain abo

What’s a performance review? For many employees it’s an annual fear-inducing ritual that provokes great dread. They go into a room with their supervisor and hear a year’s worth of documented “constructive criticism.” It is unnerving and demotivating. When done in the right way, with the right intentions, feedback can be amazingly helpful and lead to great results. Employees need feedback on what they are doing well and not so well. To be helpful, however, that feedback has to

Empathy has always been a critical skill for leaders, but it is taking on a new level of meaning and priority. Far from a soft approach, it can drive significant business results. Empathetic leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others, and being aware of their feelings and thoughts. Unfortunately, it has long been a soft skill that's overlooked, but current research says that empathy is the most important leadership skill. Great leadership requires a

All you have to do to discover that you aren’t alone in having personal and organizational momentum derailed during the pandemic is scroll through social media. We can’t stay here. What do you do to get moving again when you don’t feel like doing a thing? Here are some things that help me: Remember the reason you started. Think back. Why did you begin this journey? Chances are the passion you had when you started to do what you do and to help others with it is still there. Fo

This past week was the NFL draft, and now draft grades are coming out for each team. The great teams and those who consistently contend for a championship are those who do well in the draft. Each team’s leadership must do a good job of evaluating their team’s needs and the talent that is available, drafting players who will strengthen the overall team. Jim Collins in his book Good to Great refers to this as the bus principle. Operating in this manner requires tremendous cour

Almost everyone at one point or another thinks about changing his or her life. There are many things a person can do to up life, but without question, the most significant thing one can do is constantly evaluate his or her identity. Nothing will affect you more than the thoughts, ideas, concepts, and beliefs you hold to be true of yourself! Your identity is like a thermostat setting that is responsible for the temperature of your entire life. Once you understand how to adjust

Kevin Warren, Commissioner of the Big Ten, spoke to Leader’s Edge leaders last week. Besides leaders from a variety of vantage points, we were joined by student athletes from several area high schools. Mr. Warren shared tremendous content and applicable stories from his own life. Thoughts from his presentation: Meet people where you find them. A great leader always has time for people. Point people in the right direction, but don’t give them all the answers or do it for them

Ask many managers what their greatest work challenge is, and they’d most likely say something along the lines of “managing difficult employees.” Business is always dealing with people and standards, so things can go wrong, such as dissatisfied clients and missed deadlines. When something goes wrong, a manager typically responds by firing off an angry group email blaming whatever she sees as the general issue. Feeling attacked, employees often lash out in response through emai

This past weekend was the final four of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Justin Moore, star player for Villanova, tore his Achilles in their last game of the final four and was unable to play in the finals against Kansas. Moore has started 36 of 37 games for the Wildcats this season, averaging 15.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. He’s a dynamic scorer and a quality defender, and his loss could have a huge impact on whether the Wildcats can take home their

March has been Women's History Month, highlighting the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. The first International Women’s Day was in 1911, but too often all throughout our history the women have been unsung and their contributions unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength, and love of the women who built America are as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well. History has shown us that women in leadership wi

One of the most frequent misunderstandings people have is that painful decisions and difficult decisions are one and the same. They are not. Leaders have many painful decisions. But most of the painful decisions are not difficult. For instance, if you have to remove a long-time employee because of moral integrity failure. Is it painful? Yes. Is it difficult? No. It’s the wise thing, in the fact the only thing to do. If you have been a leader for any length of time at all, you

It has been two years since we were hit with what we know as COVID. I have experienced new territory as a leader. Change is in the wind… major change. Our organization endured a plateau in growth and some team members moved on. It forced our leaders to examine ourselves in fresh ways. We have looked at creating new departments and are making changes in structure and reorganizing. We believe this will give us a surge of growth—but it comes with a price tag. It takes work, li

NO is a big-deal word. Just saying it can free up the person saying it while totally crushing the person who receives the no. Because of this, some leaders are too afraid to say no when they really should. Or they misuse and abuse their ability to say no. I’m not a fan of conflict or disappointing people. So I completely understand the temptation to try to please everyone and just agree with everyone. But it never ends well. Everyone needs to learn to say no sometimes because