Category Archives: Leadership

Titles and desks don't make great managers or loyal employeesLeadership is not about you or your title, your money your possessions, your power, or how much pleasure you can get from life.

Leaders never have all the answers, but they seek them constantly and often find them in the places that others have overlooked.

The articles below will challenge you and inspire you to grow your thinking and your behavior first, and then help you bring your best to the people and the organizations you serve.

Posted on

The Invisible Woman

by

Have you checked out our new Lead Change Post ~ The Invisible Woman?

As a child, were you fascinated with the idea of being invisible?  Or wondered what it would be like to see the world and not have the world see you? Have you ever played spy games and pretended to be incognito?

If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings, The Fantastic Four, Disney’sNow You See Him  – Now You Don’t, The Invisible Man or any “Harry Potter” movie, you’ve probably spent some time imagining what it would be like to be invisible.

On the flip side of that is our human need to be truly seen, loved, and accepted for who we are.  And to be allowed to use our brains, our hearts, and our imaginations in any situation we desire.

So what if you were suddenly cloaked?

Posted on

Invitation 2013: Will you lead from who YOU are?

by

Have you checked out our NEW POST on the Lead Change Group Blog?

Imagine: 

  • What it would be like to grow up in a family that is always behind on their bills.
  • To live in a home that could be featured on the television program HOARDERS.
  • To have your home burn to the ground and lose everything when you were in grade-school. 
  • Then live in a home without an indoor bathroom through high school. 
  • Being diagnosed with bi-polar, manic depressive disorder before you were 20. 
  • Getting hit one night by your boyfriend and leaving with your car and your clothes.  
  • Becoming a single mom and going through a bankruptcy. 

For Angie, all of this was a reality.  She was living a life of chaos with very few calm, safe, hopeful moments.  She describes herself as insecure, someone with a chip on her shoulder, and a bully.  She emphasizes never being taught to budget, being embarrassed to bring friends home, and trying to escape her reality by forming relationships that many times became the cause of more pain.   

When I first met Angie I did not know any of these stories.  I found her because she is a hairstylist with an online presence and great reviews.  (When you are new to a city, you look for both!)  In our first meeting I complimented her on her online presence and she quickly spoke of her “Marketing Director, Miss Connie. ” 

What follows is a quick look into the lives of two extraordinary women that have been transformed because they have chosen to do what they can, with what they have, right where they are. Read more here.

Posted on

Paid to think? …Or to check your brains at the door?

by

Last week I was facilitating a leadership development session for people from every department and every level of a large organization.  During our discussion I asked them if they realized that regardless of their title they are paid to think.  …Their immediate response?  Silence.

iStock_000018618687XSmall

Later in the week I re-opened the book The Secret and as I skimmed through the pages this quote jumped off the page, “Check your brains at the door.  They will be returned to you as you leave the building.  ~The Management”

How about you?  Are you paid to think?  …Or to check your brains at the door?  

…As we near the start of a new year I wonder:

  • How many people work in cultures that expect them to check their brains at the door?
  • How many organizations have actually invited their employees to think?
  • How many organizations have provided the tools and the training to help their organization unleash the knowledge that exists within their own walls?  
Posted on

The Holidays and Tears

by

Have you checked out our new post on Lead Change? The Holidays and Tears

iStock_000019110288XSmall

On Sunday, our church choir and an orchestra filled an entire service with Christmas carols.  As they sang songs that I cherish, I was hit with a sudden realization that there are parts of the world where people are not allowed to sing those songs, or to come together and hear them.

. …I choked, I tried to clear my throat, I fought tears and then I cried.  (Partially because I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness for what I have and partially because I was so overwhelmed with grief about what others don’t have.)

Read More Here

Posted on

COURAGE ~ The testing point of every virtue

by

I love this photo of the Lion.  It is such a powerful visual of traits I admire in leaders:  Strong, Confident, Peaceful, Wise, and Courageous.  He is fully aware of who he is and what he stands for.  Calm and relaxed, yet alert and watchful. Able to fully enjoy life as he currently knows it, and yet courageous enough to leave his comfort zone, and use his voice or his strength to empower, to protect or to create change the moment he is needed.

king

C.S. Lewis describes leadership this way:

[Tweet “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. “]

  • How many people and organizations do you know that need that kind of leader?
  • How many individuals and organizations do you know that are unhappy with their present reality and desire something different and yet do nothing to change their circumstances?
  • So why is there such a big gap between the desired result and the present state?