What is a Gritty Mindset? And How Do You Develop One?

Angela Duckworth popularized the term, “Grit,” in her best-selling book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. In this book, she presents a compelling case for a couple of powerful main ideas: Grit is a mindset (not an ability) Grit matters more than talent. Naturally, a statement like this leads to two questions: What is […]
Purpose: The Most Important Ingredient for Elevated Leadership

Here is what I have learned through my research and consulting: 7% of leaders are ineffective leaders who do a better job of keeping the peace than having an impact 85% of leaders are moderate to good leaders who are focused primarily on accomplishing specific goals or results Only 8% of leaders are great leaders […]
How Do I Improve My Corporate Communication Skills?

One of the most important skills for leaders to develop is effective communication skills. It is definitely worth a leaders’ time to invest in and receive coaching related to their communication skills. But, before you run off and invest in a communications coach, let me invite you to consider your strategy. Most of the “communication […]
The Climb: A Development Program to Elevate Your Life and Leadership

This summer, I co-led a personal/leadership development program called, The Climb, designed to help people and leaders elevate their life and leadership so that they operate at a transformationally higher level. My co-leaders were Chris Spear (Climb Leader and small business coach) and Susan Spear (Nutritionist). The Climb was structured to help people vertically develop […]
What Leadership Development Goals Should You Have for Yourself?

In my consulting work with organizational leaders, I have observed two phenomena as it relates to their development goals. First, I have observed that most leaders (50+) do not have clear development goals for themselves. I think the primary reason for this is because they tend to operate 100% in performance mode, and 0% in […]
How to Help Leaders and Managers Become Effective Coaches

LeadX continues to report that organizations’ biggest leadership development priority is helping their leaders and managers develop a greater ability to coach and develop their employees. If you are wanting to better understand how to help your leaders and managers better coach and develop your employees, you are in the right place. Setting Your Strategy […]
Leader: Are You Enough to Effectively Navigate Your Complex World?

Egon Zehnder is an executive advisory firm that I was recently introduced to. Something that they do about every three years is a widespread survey of CEOs. Their most recent report was released in 2021 (see https://www.egonzehnder.com/it-starts-with-the-ceo/highlights). At a high level, here is what they found: CEOs are struggling in two ways: (1) they are […]
Why Boards of Directors Commonly Misstep with Their Most Important Decision

The most important decision that Boards of Directors make is who to hire as CEO. Unfortunately, the success rate of these selection decisions is poor. Consider the following statistics: 50-70% of CEOs fail in the first 18 months 11% of CEOs don’t even last their first year 34% of CEOs don’t last beyond three years […]
Defining the Mindsets that Impact How Effectively You Navigate Life, Work, & Leadership

In 2020, I published my Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling book, Success Mindsets: The Keys to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership. In this book, I presented the following mindset framework based on the last 40 years of mindset research to help people awaken to and elevate their mindsets. In […]
The Twelve Best Emotional Intelligence Books to Read This Year

If you are reading this, you are probably aware that emotional intelligence is a critical ability for not only effectively navigating life, but also being a positive influence on the world around us. Check out some of these statistics: 90% of top performers at work have high emotional intelligence (TalentSmartEQ). Emotional intelligence accounts for nearly […]