The team was three weeks out from a client strategy session, and the team leader asked one of their newer team members, to take the lead on prepping the slide deck. She’s bright, fast-moving, and full of ideas, so it felt like a safe handoff. Two days before the session, the leader checked in. The [...]
By Michael Holland - The Adirondack Mountains in Upstate NY provide a beautiful opportunity for hiking. There are 46 mountains that are higher than 4,000 feet. I’ve spent some time climbing a few of the "46ers" and one challenge appears often: the false summit. After a few hours of hiking you come to [...]
By Michael Holland - Your employees are frustrated with you. Yes, even though they may love you, admire you, work their tails off for you, they are frustrated with you. Some leaders cause so much frustration with their employees, they dream of how you will look when they finally tell you they are [...]
By Michael Holland - The team is not the problem. The team itself is not dysfunctional. The team didn't wake up today and say hey, I'm going to be a dysfunctional team. The team is simply a label being placed on a group of people who together create a entity that can enable [...]
by Michael Holland - Steve Jobs was a grand quitter. While he was immensely successful building and running Apple, he strategically leveraged quitting. He quit acclaimed Reed College after one semester and then dropped in periodically on creative classes at the school. He later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love [...]
by Michael Holland - “I’m a working manager. I just don’t have the time to do all these people management things I’m supposed to do” Yes, you are a working manager. And so is every other person out there who is responsible for leading and managing other people. Every foreman, supervisor, team leader, [...]
By Michael Holland - Great leaders stand out like an oak tree growing in the desert. You see it, feel it, know it when you're around a great leader. There's an authenticity about them that is so endearing. They are great because they have the capability to be vulnerable and seek as much [...]
By Michael Holland - I've asked the question countless times and more often than not I get the same basic answer. The question: Who in your past has been a great leader, someone you can visualize and model your leadership behavior after? A few moments of staring off into space ensues while they [...]
By Michael Holland - The power of our brain to create and execute habits can be extremely beneficial or detrimental. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between the habit to walk (think about it) and the habit to grab that unhealthy snack every night. The brain simply recognizes something being performed several times [...]
By Michael Holland - I needed to re-set my clock in my not-so-new car and had forgotten which buttons to push in sequence to get the clock flashing and ready for change. Rumbling through my glove box I pulled out the thick, black canvass bag which contained the owner’s manual. Well, actually it [...]
