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A blog by Ryan Quinn, Robert Quinn, Shawn Quinn and Schon Beechler

Archive for the ‘Courage / Empowerment / Initiative’ Category

Transitioning from One Year to Another: One Man’s Journey into Positive Leadership

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

–BY SCHON BEECHLER

I had made it through the holidays without the whirl of my hard drive interrupting the quiet peacefulness of warm New Zealand summer days. Now it was time to get back to work. Among the sea of junkmail in my inbox, the annual Christmas letter from Sam, an alum from my Columbia Senior Executive program over a decade ago, beckoned. With a smile, I clicked on it, expecting the usual newsy letter from Sam on life in Asia, his health, and job-related challenges and opportunities.  But this year’s letter was different…. (more…)

Ai Weiwei: Positive Leader for Change in China

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

– BY SCHON BEECHLER

For the past year, Ai Wewei, the renowned Chinese contemporary artist who collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the “Bird’s Nest” (the Beijing National Stadium) for the 2008 Olympics, has been showing the world the power of positive leadership to take on a repressive government in China. (more…)

Battling the Barrage of Bad

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

– BY SCHON BEECHLER

In my blogs this week I am going to tackle the topic of negativity and positivity in our lives. Today, I characterize what I see as a major problem in our lives, and in tomorrow’s blog I offer up 10 simple ideas how to bring some positivity back into our day to day existence.

I have circled the globe in the past 14 days. Economies are on the precipice of chaos, countries are teetering on the brink of war, and political uncertainty and turmoil roil across all the continents as unemployment edges up higher and higher, patience wanes, and tempers run hot.  In one poignant indicator of the state of the world, here are the titles of all the top stories on the front page of the New York Times this morning: “As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe,” “Christians Fear Future in Syria Beyond Assad,” “Health Insurers Push Premiums Sharply Higher,” Rights Collide as Town Clerk Sidesteps Role in Gay Marriages,” and “Even Those Cleared of Crimes Can Stay on FBI’s Watch List.”

Scorn, Contempt, Protests, Fear, Upheaval, New York Battle Looms, Terrorist Watch List – these are the stories, the words, the sentiments that slap me in the face as I start my day. What are we doing to ourselves?  (more…)

Positive Leaders’ Courage Helps Us Overcome Our Own Fears

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

– By Schon Beechler

I spent part of last week in Montreal with a remarkable group of not-for-profit leaders from all over the world. One of the themes that flowed through the week was the role of creating and sustaining relationships and the importance of trust. I’ve talked about trust many times in sessions I teach on leadership and motivation but last week, listening to the experiences and wisdom of this group of leaders, I had something of an epiphany: Being able to trust our leaders is so important to us because somewhere, deep down inside, all of us are at least a little bit afraid. (more…)

Positive Leadership: Standing Up When Your Ego Tells You To Sit Down

Monday, July 4th, 2011

–By Schon Beechler

On Friday and Saturday I posted two blogs regarding my recent failed teaching experience in India last week. I shared this story for two primary reasons. First, I shared my story to solicit input from others that I can use to help me understand what went wrong this time so that I can use it in the future.  I plan to return to India to teach and making the experience a valuable one for the participants is the most important objective I have.

But I also shared my story for another reason – I think that it’s important to talk about our failures to help others benefit from our mistakes. (more…)

Sexual Harassment and Positive Leadership: Reflecting on the Strauss-Kahn Affair

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

– By Schon Beechler

A little more than a week ago, managing director of the International Monetary Fund and the likely presidential candidate for the French presidency next year, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was taken off a flight, handcuffed, and arrested by New York City police for allegedly sexually assaulting a housekeeper in his room at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan. (more…)

Embracing Failure to Help to Future Leaders Find the Courage to Succeed

Friday, May 6th, 2011

– 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…)

Discovering Your Values: A Simple Tool to Stay True

Friday, March 11th, 2011

– By Schon Beechler

The theme of my blogs this week is values and leadership. Today, I’d like to share a simple tool to help you discover (or re-discover) your own values in the context of work.  It’s an approach developed by my colleague, Manny Elkind, which he’s used with thousands of executives around the world (see one executive’s leadership story in Wednesday‘s blog). We hope you find it useful!

(more…)

Positive Leadership: The Role of Personal Values

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

–By Schon Beechler

How often does this happen to you? You make a difficult decision only later to lament that you wished you hadn’t because it just doesn’t feel right?  How can we keep that from happening so often? (more…)

Positive Leadership: Encouraging Inquisitiveness

Friday, March 4th, 2011

– By Schon Beechler

“What questions did you ask today?” -the question Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin asked his children when they returned from school each day

This week I have been exploring “self talk” and the impact of having our Learner or our Judger doing the talking as we experience life. In this blog, I explore the links between learning and successful leadership and why we need to re-think how we both educate and socialize our children and lead those around us to succeed. (more…)