by Michael Holland - Walking up a trail in the Adirondacks with a 50-pound backpack while staring at the majestic scenery creates the prime opportunity to catch your toe on the root in the path and tumble forward. Doing it twice in a matter of 15 minutes… well, that just feels stupid. New leaders – [...]
By Michael Holland - Generation after generation of leaders have followed the same path: Get thrown into the position to take over leading their former peers Spend 10 or so years guessing at what they're supposed to do as a leader, and Then start attending leadership development programs which attempt to educate them on the [...]
By Michael Holland - When you happen upon a wise leader you’ll notice something very interesting: They ponder. They take a moment to dive into a pool of thought as they consider a decision, a course of action or a way in which to act. The pondering may be just a second or two, or [...]
by Michael Holland - What can be learned from a survey of 1,000,000 employees and 80,000 managers about why talented employees decide to stay in a job or go? What can you learn about yourself as a leader if you looked at yourself first as employee who has a manager? At times leaders believe -- [...]
By Michael Holland - One of the most irritating comments I hear from leaders at all levels is along the lines of ". . . my team is my family . . . " And when a leader above the rank of VP talks this way, I become extremely concerned for the welfare of the company [...]
By Michael Holland - You cannot re-lead. You can't go back in time and lead in a different way. You can't wipe the slate clean and have people - your employees, peers and bosses - view you differently. You can't take back those words. You can't change the look that was on your face. Every [...]
by Michael Holland - So much of what we do every day is executed via muscle memory. Walking to a meeting is so simple that we don’t even think about the physics of how our body works. We can unthinkingly create a fluid motion that moves the mass of our weight away from a desk, [...]
By Michael Holland - Recently we had a large tree fall in woods behind our house. It’s huge and I wondered how could this tree fall when others around it were fine. Some leaders are like strong trees with deep healthy root systems. They had nutrient rich soils that helped promote growth. They had their [...]
By Michael Holland - Recently I saw a commercial where a young couple throws a dart at a map and then take off for their weekend adventure to wherever the dart landed. How spontaneous and fun. Your employees are hoping you’re less adventurous. In the rush of work and the ever-changing whims of senior leadership, [...]
By Michael Holland - Recently I was watching one of those home remodeling shows and the host was showing off the before and after shots of wood trim in a house. To do it right, they had to put in a lot of work to strip down the layers of paint that had been applied [...]
