“A weak leader likes to tell us how many people work for them. A great leader is humbled to tell us how many people they work for.” ~ Simon Sinek What is the heart of leadership? Ask ten leaders and you will likely get ten different answers because every leader is different; no two teams will need the same level of leadership. We find the heart of leadership in our core belief about how we lead others. For...
“Either you will manage your culture, or it will manage you.” ~Roger Conner and Tom Smith, authors of Change the Culture Change the Game. Toxic work culture seems to be running rampant in many work environments. This week I spoke at an association where several members told me about the challenges in their own work atmosphere: “It’s like walking on eggshells around here.” If the work culture is toxic, it sounds like this: “I only have 30 more years and...
Coach John Wooden won 10 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championships in his coaching career at UCLA. He is credited with the Wooden Pyramid of Success, his philosophy for developing a dynasty while developing young talent. His first lesson in leadership is Good Values Attract Good People and through my personal experience, I know this to be very true. For me, these words are not just a chapter title from a good book – they are words...
“Before we too can move mountains, we must learn to walk the daily grind, one quiet step at a time. We must learn to serve before we can lead.” Sebastien Richard Matt worked hard to be a leader on his team. He listened to his boss, excelled in his work, and achieved great success by producing high-end results. Matt showed up to work on time, displayed a good team attitude by doing the work as needed to...
Leadership is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to lead. The challenges are real and during them we may falter in our ability to stay calm and carry on. When the heat is on where do you turn to be restored? As a leader, when we are misunderstood, questioned or just running full speed it can leave us wounded and burned out. We feel the fire burning hot, especially when those around us may...
“I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me, and I didn't have the heart to let him down.” ~ Abraham Lincoln I had a professor, Dr. Ponder, who challenged me daily. Yes, he had exacting standards in the classroom, and he expected us all to know and execute what he taught. Dr. Ponder knew so much about his subject matter. He had worked in the industry as well as taught for many years....
Pat told me he may never become a supervisor on the team, rather he sees his biggest contribution to the team is as a mentor for the new hires. He said, “I see myself training my new boss one day.” Mentoring, or training/advising someone else, especially younger colleagues has a long tradition throughout human history. Pat may be right, for it is common for the mentee to eventually be the boss/leader of the colleagues who train...
“Always believe in yourself and always stretch yourself beyond your limits. Your life is worth a lot more than you think because you are capable of accomplishing more than you know. You have more potential than you think, but you will never know your full potential unless you keep challenging yourself and pushing beyond your own self-imposed limits. ~Roy T. Bennett. My natural tendency is to get into a comfortable pattern and work it – comfortable being the...
It is sometimes difficult to invest in training an employee only to see them leave. In the last 5 years I have seen over 20 of our staff members leave our organization for better job opportunities. They were not let go; they chose to leave because they were offered a growth opportunity. Some were actively recruited by other supervisors in other departments inside our organization. One former employee said he would have never been able to...
According to the Harvard Business Review employees who feel respected are more grateful for—and loyal to—their organizations. This idea is common sense, but a lot of work environments don’t seem to understand it well enough to nurture and grow a culture of respect within their teams. How important is respect? Recently I sat down for a Leader to Leader (L2L) session with our landscape staff. L2L is when we come into the breakroom for 30-50 minutes to...