Have you ever started some new project, some new challenge — all excited to make an impact — and then feel overwhelmed? A friend of mine was describing her first few days in a new leadership role. She’s starting with a thinking exercise — a strategic review of what’s working, what needs fixing, where are [...]
Tag Archives | Kick-Ass-Ness
What Batman Can Teach Us
You know who totally gets collaboration? Batman. He didn’t do the world-saving-things himself; he understood the power of a Robin and an Alfred and he collaborated well with the police. He got collaboration. And I think it made him more powerful. As I get ready for a talk on power thru collaboration on Saturday, I’ve [...]
Know Yourself
What is the essence of your character? Said differently, what matters to you? This isn’t just a touchy-feely question, it’s the bedrock that describes who you are. What is deeply felt and has meaning for you will ultimately inspire you to do your best work. Until we understand that essence, we are unable to guide [...]
Lessons Learned
I constantly remind myself to learn. No matter what the experience, how tough or how painful, if I’ve learned something from it, I can live with it. If I pay attention to what I’m learning, I actually learn more. When I work to incorporate those lessons into the next meeting, the next experience, the next [...]
Difficulty is a Great Teacher
What I thought was torture when I worked at Apple – working with 23 different managers in seven years – I now see as an experience that refined by ability to work with many different kinds of leaders. It was a training ground that has paid big dividends – though I couldn’t see it that [...]
Performance vs. Behavior
We’re schooled, whether through B-school or working in organizations, in the outer trappings of success – status, money, title and so forth. How do we tie that to individual satisfaction and a feeling of success? What we likely haven’t been taught is that the ways we create value are as important as the dollar amount [...]