Assessing and Elevating the Sophistication of Your Leadership Team

In my experience of working with dozens of leadership teams, I have observed the following: Every leadership team operates at a different level of sophistication ranging from low to high Most (if not all) leadership teams believe that they are more sophisticated than they really are An organization’s growth and success are largely determined by […]
Vertical Development Creates A Rising Tide that Lifts All Ships

Being continually challenged to refine my thinking by Alan Mulally, I recognize that I need to figure out clearer and more concise ways to communicate the power of vertical development for: Individual leaders The effect that vertically developed leaders can have on the vertical development of their groups and organizations In this article, I am […]
The Most Vertically Developed Leaders See Themselves as Gardeners

Any good gardener knows three things: The gardener cannot transform a seed into a tree The gardener can create the conditions for a seed to transform into a tree The more appropriate the conditions are for a given fruit-producing tree, the more fruit the tree will produce The best and most vertically developed leaders understand […]
The Prevalence of and Solution to “Command and Control” Leadership

“Command and control” leadership is one of the worst forms of leadership, but it is also the most common. In this article, I want to discuss why “command and control” leadership is so prevalent and what you can do about it as an individual leader or as an organization. Fortune 50 Case Study I recently […]
The #1 Factor that Drives Top-Performing Teams & the Key to Developing It

Take a moment and consider: Is your work environment a psychologically safe environment? If you are a leader or manager, do your employees feel like they work in a psychologically safe environment?