Tag Archives: challenges

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The Impact of Vision without Ownership

Two real cities. One has it and one... Not so much!

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A little over a week ago my husband and I rode motorcycle to a city that is about an hour away from where we are living.

It’s a city we visited for the first time nearly one year ago.  A city that provided such a powerful visual of how leadership or the lack of it, impacts our world that I wrote about it right after our first visit, and have continued to talk about it throughout the year…

  • A lack of a vision compared to a shared vision.
  • Chaos compared to order.
  • Anxiety compared to peace.
  • Darkness compared to light.
Read More About That Visit Here

This time we were in awe again:

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You’re Invited: To Celebrate Our Book Launch & Beyond!

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377028_10151043037557083_218040194_nIn September of 2012 I launched a book with 20 other co-authors that are deeply passionate about the overwhelming need for Character-Based Leaders to Instigate A Leadership Revolution in our world.

  • The need is still there.
  • Our passion was spot on.
  • And the book received great reviews.

However, it was a first book for most of us and there was so much we didn’t know.

One of the biggest learning’s was that after more than a year of collaborating, writing, and editing our book…   Getting it published and celebrating wasn’t the end of the story – it was only the beginning.

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Leading Up: When to accept, speak for change or move on…

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Sooner or later we will all find ourselves in a situation where we could be leading up…

  • And will will need to choose to either accept what is happening, speak for change, or move on.

Each time I find myself in that situation the words below grow more powerful…

God grant me…

 The serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

The courage to change those I can.

And the wisdom to know the difference..

 Last week I read a very powerful article by Alli Polin that emphasized how leadership thrives when two people work closely together and titles don’t matter.

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CRISIS!!! The Impact of a Leader’s Response

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This is part II in a series to examine how a Leader’s response to a crisis impacts the people and the organizations they lead.  

Crises are more than LARGE-SCALE natural disasters and acts of hate.

Crises actually occur daily:

  • As economies, regulations, technology and consumer needs CHANGE
  • When dishonest leaders are in charge
  • With an unexpected diagnosis
  • The death of a loved-one
  • The loss of a job
  • The betrayal of a spouse
  • The negative choices of a family member
  • _________________________ (What else would you add?)

[Tweet “Crises can fuel creativity, develop synergy and produce life-giving results.”]

OR

[Tweet “Crises can implode trust, destroy lives and delay progress –  For YEARS to come.”]

Below are several stories and lessons from others…

 DOUBT & FEAR

“Around 1990 the executive team where I was working for an insurance company called department meetings to announce they were looking for a buyer for the company.

As much as I liked the men who led the company, they didn’t handle their communication effectively. Their presentation caused instant animosity, distrust, and speculation.

In the end the company wasn’t sold for many years. But the damage done way back then is still felt by employees today who were working there back then.”  ~Jane Anderson

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.  H. P. Lovecraft

THE IMPACT OF TRUTH

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Is forgiveness an overlooked leadership skill?

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If you’re like me – You believe in the faith-based and health-based reasons to practice forgiveness.

But have you ever considered that forgiveness might be an important leadership skill?

In the book Picking Cotton, two people share their true story:

  • They are both 23.
  • She’s white, a senior in college with a 4.0 and looking forward to starting her career, marrying her boyfriend and having a family.
  • He is a person of color, working, and has a history of making some unwise choices.

One night she is at home alone and a man breaks into her apartment and rapes her.Picking Cotton

She is able to escape and eventually identifies this man as her rapist.

He insists that she is mistaken.

She is convinced that her memory is correct and makes a strong witness for the prosecution.

He is convicted and goes to prison for 11 years. (In spite of the fact that he continually says he is innocent, in spite of the fact that he meets the man in prison that actually committed the crime, and in spite of the fact that his blood type does not match the blood type found at the scene.)