By Michael Holland Listening is one of those skills we learned early in life. We’ve “refined” the skill over time, but maybe the refinement has been more of filter management than enhancement of skills. Here are some possible reasons as to why we’re not good listeners. It’s difficult to put aside our own [...]
By Michael Holland The Fiscal Cliff mantra of late 2012 brought tremendous, terrifying images to mind for many people. Who wants to go over a cliff? A good friend of mine adjusted the lens looking at the forthcoming events as a Fiscal Ditch which was quite refreshing. We can traverse a ditch. [...]
by Michael Holland Do you have 3 minutes? A tremendous array of leadership education materials can be accessed on the Wall Street Journal website for simply the price of the online edition and the investment of a few minutes. The WSJ’s Lessons in Leadership series contains step-by-step how-to’s, WSJ stories and video interviews [...]
by Michael Holland In a moment, the perception of how President Barrack Obama spends his time was vastly changed. The raid and killing of the infamous terrorist Bin Laden revealed the depth and breadth of critical and non-critical activities the President was involved in over the last several months. The juggling of information, [...]
by Michael Holland Investing in your own development can reap tremendous rewards. Invigorate your effectiveness by taking a personal offsite day. Set up an agenda for the day that includes an inventory of what has been working, revisiting your goals, assessing the perception of stakeholders of your team’s work, dreaming about what could [...]
by Michael Holland E-mails. . . performance reviews. . . status reports. . . draft PowerPoint presentations. . . last week’s metrics. . . information from the senior leadership update. Are you the tollgate, stopping the flow of information and decisions to your team? Or are you becoming a black hole – all [...]
By Michael Holland Your employee has asked to see you for a couple of minutes. Your instincts jump and your soul is telling you that it is likely the employee is going to resign. The meeting is as you thought; the employee has accepted a new position. This is a great opportunity… for [...]
by Michael Holland I love the reality show, Worst Cooks in America. Self-select yourself into a process that starts with saying “Hey, I’m terrible at this” and be willing to learn in front of the world. The cooks start at square one, learning the art and science of proper vegetable-cutting techniques, and then [...]
by Michael Holland Back-to-back meetings all day. Family life waiting at home. Fifty new emails that should be read today. An employee really needs to talk with you ASAP. Leaders work hard every day. Can you find time to donate your talents to a good cause? Wait a minute, how on earth could [...]
by Michael Holland A leader is developed over time, just as your body develops. A healthy lifestyle and eating well will produce a healthy body, spirit and outlook. The same can be said for growing your leadership wisdom. Investing time, energy, and focus on your leadership capacity will yield leadership wisdom. A healthy leadership menu [...]
