To the Leadership Carnival!
Posted at 8:45 AM on Wednesday, August 06, 2008
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The Best Leadership Blog of 2008
Posted at 8:18 PM on Tuesday, August 05, 2008
 We are pleased to announce All Things Workplace by Steve Roesler as the winner of the second annual Best of Leadership Blogs Competition! As the winner, Steve will receive complementary six month Silver membership in the Remarkable Leadership Learning System (a value of over $750!) to use for himself or one of his readers. He will also be given the logo you see above to place proudly on his site. Make sure to visit All Things Workplace and leave a comment of congratulations. Mark your calendars for next July when we will host the 2009 Leadership Blog competition. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Slow Leadership
Posted at 10:30 AM on Thursday, July 31, 2008
Authors Carmine Coyote, Peter Vajda, and John Fletcher of Slow Leadership offer interesting and challenging articles to help readers think through issues and find ways to enjoy life and work to the fullest. They believe "slow leaders" are only slow in making decisions or jumping to conclusions and that it's essential to think more clearly and make better choices, free from today's obsession with meeting unrealistic, short-term expectations. This post is the 2nd in their "Become a Slow Leader" series. I think it's a great lesson. Courage can build a leadership style to be proud of
on Slow Leadership (January 24, 2008)
When things get rough — as now — beware of cowards, mixed messages, and macho managers
Tough times sort out the true leaders from those who wear the clothes but have nothing beneath them. Leaders lead; mere administrators, whatever their job titles, panic. Worst of all, fair-weather bosses infected by Hamburger Management send people mixed messages. In today's atmosphere of frantic competition and short-term focus, mixed messages caused by "macho" management can make bad situations far worse and leave a business wide open to crushing problems. It's time we recognized that moral courage is often a truer test of leadership than mere quarterly results.
If nothing else has results from our boom and collapse economy, it ought surely to make everyone aware of how many supposed leaders are nothing of the kind; and the ease with which such executives, under pressure to "deliver the goods or else," cross the line from tough business practice to dishonesty and fraud.
A few past offenders have been caught and punished, but that doesn't mean the underlying problems have been cured.Read the rest of the post here. Vote for Slow Leadership or any of our other finalists here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 3 comments
Best of Blogs: All Things Workplace by Steve Roesler
Posted at 3:59 PM on Monday, July 28, 2008
Steve Roesler's says his blog All Things Workplace is designed to "teach smart people practical ways to become extraordinary." He leads the Roesler Group, an organization effectiveness firm that specializes in communication training and development by emphasizing improving systems, relationships and large-scale change. Steve also is the co-author of The Age of Conversation. Among other things Steve creates leadership programs, prepares executives for presentations, mediates conflicts among high-level executives, and leads CEO selection processes for NYSE companies. Steve was once a Drill Instructor in the Army, a musician and singer, and he's been involved in broadcasting for more than 30 years. All of this combined with his deep interest in the global nature of business makes for an interesting – and often fun – take on leadership. Here's a passionate look at leadership from Steve: Try Talent, Passion and Purpose
by Steve Roesler (March 13, 2008)
The Passion discussion started on February 26th as a result of Phil Gerbyshak's "Wow" Factor article (Phil, I hope you've found some of those "Wow" people by now).
Since then, the discussion about passion and work has been passionate.
Why?
I'm sure there are as many individual reasons as there are individuals. These are mine:
1. Passion is, by definition, an emotional word.
2. A significant portion of the population is not wired to inherently associate the words passion and work. That doesn't mean those folks don't care about work, aren't enthusiastic, or don't excel in their chosen fields. It's just that the two words create dissonance when used in the same phrase.Read the rest of the post here. Vote for Steve or any of our other finalists here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Extreme LEadership by Steve Farber
Posted at 8:52 PM on Sunday, July 27, 2008
Steve Farber says just like wearing spandex doesn't make you a cyclist or looking at the world through Oakley sunglasses doesn't make you a snowboarder, printing 'leader' on your business card doesn't make you lead. Steve, the best-selling author of The Radical Leap and The Radical Edge and the Extreme Leadership blog, says – among other things – "real leaders take us places we've never been, turn nothing into something and change the pieces of the world they touch for the better." Steve has a passion for coaching and inspiring extreme leadership at all levels. In addition to consulting, speaking and writing about extreme leadership, Steve also is the co-founding director of The Center for Social Profit Leadership and sits on the board for Up With People. Here's a great post from Steve on being greater than yourself: Your GTY Project
by Steve Farber (June 19, 2008)
The essence of the principle of Greater Than Yourself (GTY) is this:
Your own greatness as a leader (or in just about any other role, for that matter) lies, paradoxically, in your ability to cause others to be greater than yourself.
You could argue that this is just the right way for one decent human being to act towards another, and I'd whole-heartedly agree, but let's set altruism aside for a moment.
Is there a personal payoff for you? A benefit other than a warm, toasty feeling in your chest?
Oh, yeah.
Consider this: If you get a reputation for being the one who elevates people, for being the one who gives freely to others at work, and, as a result, for turning out superstar after superstar, what’s going to happen?
Everyone will want to work with you, that's what.
Read the rest of the post here. Vote for Steve or any of our other finalists here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 1 comments
Best of Blogs: Peronal Leadership Insight by Rhett Laubach
Posted at 3:48 AM on Friday, July 25, 2008
Personal Leadership Insight is one of Rhett Laubach's two blogs. Rhett is an author, speaker, coach and trainer and the founder of YourNextSpeaker. He says Personal Leadership Insight is about finding meaning as a leader in your private and public life and focuses on helping leaders develop the ability to positively influence people and situations to create value and growth. One of the things I like about Rhett is that he offers thoughts for student leaders. Not only students of leadership (like you and me), but student leaders on campuses and in school building across the country (in fact these future leaders are a major part of Rhett's writing and his business). Rhett wrote this post in March geared toward student leaders, but I think it applies to every single one of us (you could easily take student out of the title): Vision: Three Giant Leaps Every Great Student Leader Takes
by Rhett Laubach (March 4, 2008)
Everyone knows great student leaders live life differently than the average Joe. However, not everyone knows how they do it. The three giant jumps is about a few of those differences. These are three very large leaps highly-effective student leaders make in their personal and social development that allow them to make a difference in their world and the world around them.
Before we look at the jumps, let's examine the structure.
Each jump has three elements:
1. The starting place
2. The ending place
3. The leap from one to the other.
All three are critical components of that particular leadership lesson. However, the leap itself is where the magic lives.
Read the rest of the post here. Vote for Rhett or any of our other finalists here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs
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Best of Blogs: LeaderTalk by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner
Posted at 2:49 PM on Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Leadership Challenge blog - also called LeaderTalk - highlights themes from Jim Kouzes' and Barry Posner's best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge. Jim and Barry have collaborated on more than a dozen other books and are preeminent researchers, award-winning writers and sought after teachers. Their philosophy (similar to ours) is that "leadership is everyone's business." They say more than ever there is a need for people from every walk of life to seize opportunities that lead to greatness; for leaders to inspire people to dream, participate and persevere. Jim and Barry wrote the The Leadership Challenge, their other books and their blog to inspire people to take the initiative and make a difference. Here's a great post from Jim about leading during times of adversity. Adversity Introduces Us to Ourselves
by Jim Kouzes (May 13, 2008)
The economy is in a foul mood, and it's not being nice to anyone. You can be an eighty-year old banking icon or high-tech startup with ink still wet on the incorporation papers, and this market is going to mess with you. In my last three phone calls with clients, I have heard stories about layoffs of hundreds of middle managers, declining sales in retail stores, and no upward mobility in the firm "for the first time in our history." And on all these calls I have been asked if I might share some thoughts about what leaders can do to keep people engaged and inspired in times like these.
The calls bring to mind a comment made by John McDonnell, former CEO of McDonnell Douglas, when that company was going through its struggles before eventually merging with Boeing. "Adversity introduces you to yourself," he said, reflecting upon what that struggle had brought for him. And another thought from Randy Melville whom we interviewed when he was with Pepsi. Quoting his Princeton University basketball coach, Pete Carril, Randy said, "Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it." Challenges, difficulties, setbacks, adversities…they are all familiar sights on the leadership landscape. And one of the things that they cause us to do is to come face-to-face with ourselves. They are a rather harsh way of reminding us of what's important, what we value, and where we want to go.
Leaders are no strangers to challenges. In fact, exemplary leaders thrive on them. Here are a few tips on what you can do as a leader to enable others to learn to thrive as well.Read the rest of the post here. Vote for LeaderTalk or one of or other nominees here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Tom Peters
Posted at 3:30 PM on Saturday, July 19, 2008
For anyone who follows leadership and management, Tom Peters really needs no introduction. Major publications (like Fortune and the Economist) has called Tom the "uber-guru" of management and the inventor of the enormous "management guru industry." Others have gone on to say "we live in a Tom Peters world." Tom has always remained true to his core that an organization's people, Customers and values are the basic drivers behind all success. However, he also was one of the first to champion creating products and services for the women's market, point out the global business dominance of the boomer+ market, operational excellence in healthcare and many more. I've read Tom's work since In Search of Excellence in the mid 80's, and so I'm proud that his blog is on this list. The reality is though that no leadership blog contest would be complete without Dispatches from the World of Work. Here's just a sample from his world: More on Indifference from Tom
by Tom Peters (April 10, 2007)
Darci, from her Comment: "... and pursue my passion. It was a leap of faith and there was no safety net to catch me if I failed."
Darci, here's the way I look at it. We all "fail" in the end. "Fail" as in finish, finito, die. (I am not talking religion here—we may indeed go to a better world, or a worse one, but we will not be amidst this one.) So if, to quote an old joke, "We might as well go for it, boys, none of us is going to get out alive": Well, then, to me, the only ... TRUE FAILURE ... is a failure to ... Engage Fully, 100% of the time.
(My casual reading of Aristotle, and I'm no student of philosophy, is that, for instance, "happiness" is complete engagement, not some bemused state; "leisure" is an opportunity to grow in new ways, not a chance to veg out; etc.)
And another thing: Indifference makes you sloppy, sloppy in general. You can call it "studied indifference," or "purposeful indifference," or whatever you want, but if your goal is stupefaction on the job, it'll spread like a virus—even to home life. Read the rest of this post here. Vote for Tom or any of our other finalists here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Leadership Blogs Competition Update
Posted at 3:43 PM on Friday, July 18, 2008
We are ending the third week of the 2008 Best of Blogs competition and my goodness has the competition heated up. :) You must have paid close attention to our last update and started following and voting for our finalists. The votes have come to an astonishing 1109 - rising quickly from last week's 348 votes. If you have been paying attention, you will notice that the leaders have switched up a bit. All Things WorkplaceLeading BlogPersonal Leadership Insight Thanks to all of you for your interest in the competition and for supporting our finalists. We hope that you have had the opportunity to learn from these fine leaders and continue to do so after the competition concludes, which by the way is coming up fast. Vote here if you haven't yet. Let's keep this competition heated and exciting! Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Leading Blog by Michael McKinney
Posted at 10:08 AM on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Michael McKinney is the president of LeadershipNow where they believe leadership is everyone's business and that we need people of all ages and backgrounds to take part. His blog – Leading Blog – won our first Best of Leadership Blogs competition last summer. Michael says leaders think different. They see the world differently. And that we all possess the capacity of leadership, but only those who cultivate it will ever become truly effective leaders. (I couldn't agree more!) Michael adds to the blog regularly, but I would like to share one of his posts from last summer (July 2007) that I think is really interesting. The Importance of Competence
by Michael McKinney (July 18, 2007)
Competence alone can't make a leader, but it can undo one. While inaction is a prime problem facing many organizations (and individuals for that matter), there's the very real possibility that one is doing the wrong thing. An incompetent leader has almost unlimited opportunities to be ineffective. Knowing what to do—professional competence—is vital.
Being competent doesn't mean that a leader knows how to do everything, but rather that they know what to do and how to get it done. Even the most brilliant leader who tries to go it on their own is setting themselves up for failure. A good leader will know where their strengths and weaknesses lie and thus know what kind of expertise they will need to surround themselves with.
While many "leaders" are often selected for their competence alone, competence is something different from character or leadership competence, and should not be confused.Read the rest of the post here.
Vote for Leading Blog (or any of the other 9 nominees) here. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Lisa Haneberg and Management Craft
Posted at 3:46 PM on Monday, July 14, 2008
Lisa Haneberg is a professional management and leadership trainer, coach and consultant. She's also the bestselling author of many books including Focus Like a Laser Beam, H.I.M.M.: (High Impact Middle Management): Solutions for Today's Busy Managers, Organizational Development Basics, Coaching Basics and several short e-books. One of Lisa's four blogs is Management Craft which focuses on management and leadership - two of her stated passions (she is also passionate about the Southwest and the perfect chicken nacho). Lisa calls her business blog Management Craft because she thinks of management and leadership as a craft; a practice we hone and develop over time. On Lisa's site she re-posted the most popular piece on leadership she's written to date (it gets hit every day even though it was written three years ago). Here's an excerpt from that February 2005 post (she continues to write great things about leadership and management, but this is one of Lisa's - and her readers - favorites): Leadership is Just One Thing
by Lisa Haneberg (February 12, 2005)
About a week ago, I offered my perspective on the differences between Leadership and Management. You can read this post here. I don't often write about leadership, but I have been thinking about how I would articulate leadership.
When we say someone is a great leader, we often are saying he or she is a great leader, manager, and coach. When I peel away the management and coaching elements, I see what is pure leadership.
Leadership is just one thing.
Leadership is like the horseradish in the sauce I make for raw oysters.
It's like the wasabi in my sushi.
It's the lime leaves in my Panang curry.
It's the Bombay in my martini.
It's something special that makes a big difference. So what's the one thing?
When we deomonstrate leaderhsip, we exude a proactive thrust. It's about taking the initiative to make things better. Read the rest of Lisa's post here. Vote here for the 2008 Best of Leadership Blog. Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best Leadership Blog Update
Posted at 12:12 PM on Saturday, July 12, 2008
 The 2008 Best of Leadership Blog competition is well under way ending its second week today. Our finalists have done an outstanding job promoting the competition on their various sites and encouraging many of you to vote - about 348 to be exact.
The top three blogs as of this writing are:
Now would be a great time to take a look at our finalist's blogs because they are producing some of their best work - all in the spirit of competition. After taking a look at each contestant, make sure you cast your vote here if you haven't done so already. The competition is heating up and our finalists really need your help in pushing them to the top. Thanks for supporting the contest with your votes! Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Lead Quietly by Don Frederiksen
Posted at 7:18 AM on Friday, July 11, 2008
Don Frederiksen is not a published author, trainer, consultant or speaker. Don is an IT professional with 20+ years of leadership experience. As a Business Intelligence Architect for Pearson VUE, he leads quietly. As a self-described "student of leadership" he seeks to understand, and practice how teams can effectively collaborate to solve difficult challenges. Lead Quietly is dedicated to the study of quiet leaders who do the right thing with quiet, behind-the-scenes actions, not public heroism. On May 4, Don wrote this great piece on leadership and perfectionism: Be a good leader. Be incomplete. Don't be perfect, don't even try. There is evidence that the best leaders are distinctly far from perfect and simply incomplete.Woohoo. When I look at my personal skills, this is the best news I've heard in some time.An article in the July 2007 volume of the Harvard Business Review caught my attention this past week as I continue my exploration of collaboration and leadership. In Praise of the Incomplete Leader, is the collaborative work of a group of authors MIT that includes Peter Senge, author of the previously cited business classic, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization.The article resonated with me from the first read of the summary tag line:"No leader is perfect. The best ones don't try to be - they concentrate on honing their strengths and find others who can make up for their limitations." Don states that it is time to stop visualizing the complete leader as a person at the top who has all the answers. He goes on to say that leaders shouldn't even try to fill the gap. Click here to read Don's entire post. Also posted in Leadership and LearningLabels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best of Blogs: Leadership Made Simple by Ed Oakley
Posted at 3:35 PM on Monday, July 07, 2008
Ed Oakley writes Leadership Made Simple. Ed's blog - or as he calls it the Periodic Journal of Leadership Tips - is a little different than many leadership blogs because it also makes use of video along with his writings. Ed posts a video in addition to a 'traditional' blog post in any of about 10 categories. His videos are engaging and interesting; and his posts typically generate comments. Here's an example of Ed's style from June 8, 2008. Make sure to follow the link to get to Ed's journal to see the video:
Leadership Development: Effective and Easy Performance Reviews This is the third in the series of videos in our Leadership Development Experiment. This one is focused on accomplishing Performance Evaluations, Assessments, Appraisals or Reviews easily and effectively. It focuses on bringing out the best in the employee, while making it easy for you to do. Our perspective is that if Performance Appraisals are easy AND effective, you'll do them more often - resulting in even more performance improvement. Check it out! Also posted in Leadership and Learning. Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
The Best of Leadership Blogs Contest Starts Now!
Posted at 8:53 AM on Tuesday, July 01, 2008
 Help Us Pick the Best! Thanks to you – and our Blue Ribbon Panel – we're excited to announce the 10 nominees for the 2008 Best Leadership Blog contest. We scoured the web, took your nominees and then had our panel narrow the field and one of the 10 contenders will be 'crowned' winner: Management Craft: Lisa Haneberg Leading Blog: Michael McKinney All Things Workplace: Steve Roesler Leadership Made Simple: Ed Oakley Lead Quietly: Don Frederiksen Extreme Leadership: Steve Farber Slow Leadership: Carmine Coyote, Peter Vajda, John Fletcher Tom Peters: Tom Peters Leadership Challenge: Various Authors Personal Leadership Insight: Rhett Laubach I hope you will check out all 10 sites, and then vote for your favorite. Voting is open through July 31, and the winner will be announced here and in my newsletter on August 4. Choose wisely – you can only vote once! If you're unfamiliar with these bloggers, I'm excited to introduce them to you through the contest. Plus, throughout the month, I'll be hosting a guest post from each of our finalists and posting regular updates on the competition progress, so keep checking in here – and also subscribe to this feed (and that of the finalists too) and you'll always know what we're up to here. This is the second annual year competition, and it's already looking to be extremely successful! We had more than 1000 people vote in 2007 and plan for many more in year two. Why don't you send a note to your friends and ask them to support their favorite too? Remember, the polls close on July 31st, so cast your vote today! Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leadership blogs PermaLink - 5 comments
The Best Leadership Blog of 2007
Posted at 6:46 AM on Sunday, July 08, 2007
 As the voting for the Best Leadership Blog of 2007 comes to a close, some congratulations are in order. Congratulations to Michael McKinney of Leading Blog, as his blog, in a late surge in voting overtook Jonathan Farrington's Leadership Turn to win the title of Best Leadership Blog for 2007. Truly congratulations to all ten of the blogs included in this listing - as all are wonderful resources for those of us interested in thinking and learning more about all aspects of leadership. Congrats also go to Chris Knight, the winner of the Remarkable Leadership Volume 1 CD Set - he was the lucky winner of the drawing among all voters. Perhaps most of all, congrats to all of you who voted, because in reviewing one or more of these great sites, you have gained new ideas and perspectives that will help make you a more remarkable leader. Click here for the complete list of sites, and the final results. Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training. Labels: leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
Best Leadership Blog Update
Posted at 5:25 PM on Monday, July 02, 2007
With just a couple of days to go (the poll closes at Midnight ET July 6th) on our search to determine the best leadership blog as of June/July 2007, the race is close. The Top Three as of this moment are: Leading Blog - Building Community Leaders by Michael McKinney Leadership Turn by Jonathan Farrington Slow Leadership by Carmine Coyote ...and the top two are neck and neck. There has been some great conversation amongst some very smart bloggers, like Ken Flowers, Troy Worman and Phil Gerbyshak. I'd encourage you to check out their posts (and the sites they've suggested could be added to the list) and the comments that have been generated. Then either add your two cents to their posts, or come back here and share your thoughts. Thanks to them and everyone who has voted so far. If you haven't, what are you waiting for? Also posted in Leadership, Learning and TrainingLabels: leadership, leadership blogs PermaLink - 0 comments
What is the Best Leadership Blog?
Posted at 6:30 AM on Friday, June 15, 2007
 I've asked myself that question in the past, and wondered what other people thought. So I took note of my personal list and had a member of my team (Thanks Erica!) scour the web for more to consider. After review and discussion, we landed on the following ten as our contenders, as of June 2007, for the Best Leadership Blog (in the galaxy?). If you are a reader of one ore more of these blogs, you might already know which one you want to vote for. If you aren't familiar with these ten sites, what a better reason to visit them than to help determine the Best Leadership Blog of 2007 winner?
If you investigate and vote, you will not only gain invaluable insights and ideas from reading these blogs, you will also be entered to win the Remarkable Leadership Volume 1 - CD Set! This set is valued at over $550 and includes a total of 6 tele-seminars with me, 6 interviews with other leadership experts and much more.
The winning blog will have bragging rights, an award logo to place on their blog, be granted the championship trophy (ok, there isn't a trophy) and receive a package of gifts from us at The Kevin Eikenberry Group.
I hope you will vote and I hope you will check back here for updates on progress. The polls close on July 6th so vote today!
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