Right now the best leadership instruction through example we may ever have the chance to witness in our lifetimes is playing out on the world stage in full view of every nation and people. On the one side you see the antithesis of anything that is real leadership. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is the dictator who rules with a clenched fist: demanding, killing, and destroying. He doesn’t love his people nor honor them. Affectionate, inspiring words never fall from h

It is true that some leaders micro-manage and are very controlling. But the opposite is also true and probably more common. This is where leaders do little to no direct report management and assume that because they hire mature capable people they will handle things capably and appropriately. But the need for order and organization will never go away. It is necessary for providing clarity at every level of the organization. The nature of how people are managed will certainly

Bruce Arians, NFL head coach for the Tampa Buccaneers, said about the 2019 team: “They were a very, very talented football team, but we really didn’t know how to win.” Translation: They didn’t have the culture and discipline to win. But Arians called Tom Brady a “winner” who changed everything for the Buccaneers when he arrived in 2020: “He ran the ship for the team, and his leadership ‘permeated through our whole locker room.’” Translation: Brady brought discipline and cultu

As many of you know, I am a pastor. A pastor is generally deeply involved in the big events of life: births, graduations, marriages, deaths. Not surprisingly, I have been dealing with a huge volume of deaths in the last year. Many of them were personal friends, and then there has been the staggering number of deaths of celebrities and people across the nation and the world. Perhaps it has been emotionally impacting to you. It certainly has been so to me. These deaths, particu

If you were to ask what the most important skill is that a leader can have, you would get numerous opinions, and not too many people would put listening at the top of the list. But actually, time and research have shown that listening leads the way to great leadership. Listening is the basis for so many other skills and traits necessary for leadership. It’s a big learning curve for most of us though, because listening requires us to be more present, attentive, engaged, open,

Leader’s Edge was privileged and honored to have Dave Durham, a Disney Imagineer for 30- plus years, come and speak with us. Over the two and a half days I was able to be with him, one of the things he repeated over and over was that the key to leadership and life was “Do the hard thing!” Dave said if we are honest with ourselves, we know that most of the truly worthwhile things in life that are hard—not destructively hard—just hard. They are out of our comfort zone. Maybe it

That doesn’t sound like a topic for a bunch of high-powered men and women whose great super-powers are fueled by their confidence, does it? But there’s not an authentic leader who could say they haven’t had at least moments of true fear in the last several years. It made me think of my dad. He was a member of the Screaming Eagles, the 101st Airborne paratroopers in the United States Army during World War II. They were highly trained and highly respected for their skill. Dad

In the customer experience, too much thoughtfulness is never enough. So you want to use words that exude kindness, professionalism, and gratitude as much as possible with your customers. Here are seven phrases customers won’t tire of hearing and why they’re important for the experience: “That’s great!” … or something enthusiastically similar, such as “That’s fantastic!” or “Sounds perfect!” Positive phrases delivered with enthusiasm make customers feel like you’re interested

There are phrases, quotes, and stories we have all heard so many times our minds simply go into neutral when we hear them again. We know that ; we don’t need to listen or hear it again. Problem is, that’s not necessarily true. Many things we know and understand are completely worthless to us because they have not taken root in our practical, day to day thinking. They have absolutely no impact on our lives, no matter how true we may believe they are. I want to mention a few I

Urban Meyer got fired and wasn’t able to finish a full year after getting a contract that made him one of the highest paid coaches in the NFL in his first year. The owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars gave him everything that he asked for He was a beloved and successful coach at Ohio State University. In the course of his seven-year career as Ohio State's head coach, Meyer led the team to an 83-9 record, three Big Ten titles and a national championship when his Buckeyes won t

"Think twice before you speak because words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” – Napoleon Hill The way a leader communicates will give the team a lift and increase their engagement and morale. It builds them up, not down like so many managers do. There are phrases that should not be part of your communication if you want to build trust and good moral. “That’s a terrible idea.” “I’m the boss, so be quiet and do as I told y

In the leadership world, lots of conversations have centered around soft skills. We seem to agree that everyone needs them, but what are they. Soft skills are character traits and people skills that characterize a person's relationships with other people. In the workplace, soft skills are considered to be a necessary complement to hard skills, which are the person's knowledge and occupational skills. Soft skills include interpersonal skills—the ones we commonly call “people..

Leaders are typically known as people of action. Right now we are living in a time where things are not happening as quick and fast as most of us would like. In one way or another, we have all had to adjust our expectations. That doesn’t mean there are not breakthroughs or great gains—it just means that you might need to be patient and persevere more than normal. Knowing when to quit is one thing; knowing when to persevere is another. Simply quitting should be a very rare dec

Of all of the factors that affect leadership, sleep would likely be one of the last ever considered. However, the evidence is clear that your sleep has a direct bearing on the way you lead and the performance of your team. If you want to be a better leader, sleep is a great starting point. According to Center for Creative Leadership, 2017, everyone's sleep needs are unique and genetically-determined, but most adults need between 7 and 9 hours a night . Yet 42% of leaders get

Like you, I spend a large amount of time thinking about and reading about leadership. Every now and then I discover an assumption I have made about leadership that simply isn’t true, and sometimes I discover thoughts that have hindered me. As I read, I see many others who have made similar discoveries. These are some repeated myths I have gleaned from others. Perhaps they have existed for you too. Leaders are born that way. Let’s be straight; leaders are not born. Instead, th

We hear many slogans and motivational statements like “Teamwork makes the dream work!” That’s because we innately all know that teamwork is absolutely essential for true success in everything we do. From birth all the way through life, everything worthwhile we try requires help from someone else at some point. They need us, we need them. That’s the way of life. Patrick Lencioni has written The Ideal Team Player and given us many helpful insights and lessons that will assist

Do you want to succeed? Of course you do! What a ridiculous question, right? A question you probably more often actually ask yourself is “Do I have what it takes to achieve success at what I do?” The answer to that is another question, “Do you have a success mindset?” That’s what most centrally sets the successful person apart from the unsuccessful. What is a mindset? A mindset is simply a way of thinking and an individual’s thought pattern or mental attitude. Your mindset is

How many times lately have you said or heard someone else say, “I’m so stressed out!” No doubt we are in an extremely challenging period of time as an entire culture. Throw in your personal stuff and it can quickly become a zoo with lots of animals. It’s almost a mantra on how damaging stress can be to our health. From paying the bills to sitting in traffic to working with constant job challenges and handling what can seem like endless responsibilities, the list of things tha

Have you noticed that when you have an opportunity for almost anything, it’s normal for your brain to try to convince you to play it safe? It will tell you that you can't succeed or that trying something new will likely not be worth it. Truth is, risking doesn’t have to be reckless, and avoiding all risk is a recipe for anxiety. Too often we base our decisions on emotion and assume our fear level and risk level are even and our fear should be followed. But our fears are usual

Emotional agility is a term coined by the Harvard Business Review. It’s a term similar to emotional intelligence, but not the same. Emotional intelligence is being aware of and in control of one’s own emotions. Emotional agility is defined as “approaching one’s inner experiences mindfully and productively, a feat that has become increasingly challenging during this Covid season,” says Paul Goyette. “Becoming more emotionally agile will make you a better leader—while remaining