Liz’s Leadership Insights Blog
If We’re Not Laughing Something Is Wrong
As I finished a client’s strategy session report this morning, I kept thinking about how the CEO has changed over the past five years since we last worked together. He’s still brilliant, tenacious, out-spoken, aggressive, driven, blunt, and not politically correct -- Can you see why I like him? Yet he’s changed. He’s no longer afraid to laugh. And that change has caused a huge shift in how he and his senior staff interact, plan, work, produce, profit, and succeed. “If there is no laughter,...
Keep It Real
One of the professional organizations to which I belong had as its theme a few years ago: Keep It Real. It was meant to encourage us members to truly be experts in what we proclaim to be and do. To be honest, when I first heard the theme, I thought: Boring! However, over the past several months, I've come to appreciate it. With the business environment continuing to be a challenge, it's been interesting to note the validity of Warren Buffet's famous saying: "Only when the tide goes out do you...
Poor Pilot Leadership
What would you do if you were the Pilot in Command, your plane full of passengers is stuck at an airport because of bad weather, and... You're not going anyplace soon? Here's how a real pilot leader handled the situation: First-Class Pilot Leadership and here's how the pilot on the flight my husband and I were on handled it... I just experienced, first-hand, poor leadership – poor ethical leadership that manifested itself through a lack of courage, character, and communication (Hmmm, three of...
Why Do You Attack Instead of Talk?
Why is it so hard for so many managers to simply talk with their employees about less-than-expected performance? Why do so many managers become mean when they simply need to make employees aware their behaviors are taking them down the path towards disciplinary actions or possibly -- termination? Why do so many managers default to "attack mode" instead of "talk mode" to tell employees they are performing in unacceptable ways? Typical Reasons People Attack Instead of Talk From my...
