by Michael Holland - What traditions have you created or enabled within your team or company? As a leader, you are in the powerful role of creating rituals, beliefs, values, and cultural norms by the ways in which you behave and enable behavior within others, both as individuals and in groups. Tradition sounds so impressive [...]
by Michael Holland - Your role as a leader – should you choose to accept it – is to effectively lead the people asset you’ve been charged with owning. This means: You are responsible and accountable for the effectiveness and productivity of each individual person on your team, as well as the team as a [...]
by Michael Holland - A toddler is amazed by the sound of their voice echoing off the walls of a large, empty room. I’m amazed by the echo heard down a valley from a high cliff. The sound reverberates, seeming to go on forever. The leadership voice of a good leader is heard in the [...]
By Michael Holland - I think one of the biggest mistakes seemingly well-intentioned organizations make is promoting someone to supervision/management and giving them just a single direct report. The logic seems to be that by giving them a single employee to manage, they can learn how to lead with less risk and more time to get the hang [...]
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 - 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 - 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 - 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 director talks this way, I become extremely concerned for the welfare of the [...]
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 - 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 [...]
