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– By Schon Beechler
I work with an amazing and giving man, Mike, who is now in his late seventies. Mike teaches leadership in a number of programs with me and has been a mentor to me for nearly fifteen years. Mike is not only a great teacher, he also has an uncanny ability to connect with people. Whether we are in New York or Sydney he can strike up a conversation, find out interesting local information, crack jokes, light up people’s faces, and leave them, and all of us who are lucky enough to witness the interactions, feeling good. Every one of these encounters, even though I’m usually not involved, leaves me a little lighter and a little happier. He creates high quality connections and their positive energy radiates in every direction.
I, on the other hand, live with a perfectionist – me. (more…)
By Ryan W. Quinn
Last week, Schon wrote an entry on this blog asking whether the killing of Osama Bin Laden was an act of positive leadership or not. Some of our readers left a number of provocative comments in response to this entry, which we appreciate. This week, I would like to follow up on Schon’s post with a different question: Now what? (more…)
– By Schon Beechler
We are drawn to the successful men and women in our field. We watch them. We ask them and others the secrets of their success. We analyze and emulate them in the hopes that we, too, can be as good (or better) than they are. What we don’t usually get to see, however, are the failures that helped fuel the successful role models we so admire. (more…)
– By Schon Beechler
The other evening I accidentally embarrassed my 15 year-old daughter in front of one of her friends. I didn’t realize it at the time but boy did she let me know later that night! I repeatedly told her I was sorry and tried to convince her that it wasn’t intentional. Filled with anger, frustration, and embarrassment she let me have it. (more…)
– By Schon Beechler
Many of my friends and alumni, executives in Japan, are struggling with how to best lead in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Part of their challenge is leading in a crisis that is enormous in its magnitude and continues to unfold in unpredictable ways. The other part of their challenge is how to lead for the longer-term while continuing to focus on the here and now. What would you do?
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–By Schon Beechler
In Monday’s blog I wrote about our natural tendency to come to snap judgments about other people and external events. But it’s not just others we judge – we do this to ourselves as well. Most of us have a running monologue inside our heads with our explanations for what’s happened in the past and our expectations for the future. Some of our “self talk” has an overly positive bias in the form of over-confidence and lack of humility. These judgments are detrimental since they can lead us to take unnecessary risks and to alienate others. At the same time, many of us color our internal world with an overly negative brush – questioning or beating ourselves up. That’s an even bigger problem – but something you can change. (more…)
I was recently traveling to India for business and boarded my flight from JFK, not looking forward to the 16 hour journey. I arrived at my seat and saw that my seat-mate, a man in his 50s or so, was already there. I smiled and said hello as I put my carry-on baggage away and settled in. But the man never looked up or acknowledged me in any way. I immediately thought,”What an ass! Why do I have to sit next to an unpleasant guy all the way to India?”
