It’s become fashionable to stress Competencies in designing programs for developing leaders, growing talent and shaping culture. Increasingly, demonstrated Competencies are finding their way into the annual evaluation process where their weight can be significant. But what about Skills? Are there Skills that are so broad-based, even transformational, that they deserve the same emphasis? In…
We have engineered the individual performance process increasingly finely over the last ten years, and each new advance in technology helps cut it even finer. It’s time to look at how much value this activity is creating? While I’m not aware of a study that has looked at this issue in depth. The anecdotal evidence…
More and more good ideas are surfacing on how to be a leader who inspires and empowers, completely shedding the command and control approach . Most often the concept advocated expresses the new leadership style as a series of key behaviors by the leader. This checklist approach is helpful. but it is critical to keep…
Since my last post on Executive Leadership, I have done a considerable amount of reading, listening and learning about what it takes to be an effective leader. My first post on this subject discussed Authentic Leadership, then I discussed the need for Resiliency as a Leader. Now, I am adding Agility to the mix. Agility…
A recent HBR blog piece makes a convincing case that criticism of ideas in meetings results in much better outcomes than just saying yes to a leaders or a subcommittee chair. In fact, this point is so important that I would go even further: only by accepting — in fact catalyzing — criticism and and…
A recent piece on the HBR Blog Site discussed a series that litmus tests to help in judging people and their real potential. Examples cited are meaningful listening, giving rather than taking energy and self-awareness. It is certainly possible to take the list of the ten criteria suggested and build it into a structured interview…
Rarely does a day go by when I don’t encounter an important business executive making questionable decisions about scheduling priorities. Sometimes, it’s the executive’s administrative assistant who is the culprit; other times, it’s the executive himself or herself. Consider what is at stake. An executive’s most valuable personal business asset is time. Using time toward…