An astute user of Google or Amazon can very quickly tap into a variety of sources that lay out a virtual Yellow Brick Road towards a new beginning, a fresh start, or a makeover of one’s very essence. Don’t like your friends – get new ones! Hate your job – screw it, and start over! In […]
Tag Archives: self-awareness
June
13
Accountability
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
I was recently fortunate to enjoy a vacation in the Federal Republic of Germany. For those who missed some big goings-on about 25 years ago, Germany was divided into two countries from 1949 to 1990 following the conclusion of World War II. The city of Berlin was also divided following the conflict and jointly occupied […]
May
05
Exercising Good Judgment
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
One of my new favorite blogs had a definition yesterday that really resonated with what can be the core of a leader’s daily responsibility. “Leadership….is nothing less than the repetitive exercise of discretionary judgment…”. Which leads one to think, is there a judgment muscle that can be trained or exercised or enhanced through the proper […]
March
16
The Power of Perception
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
The late Steven Covey has long been considered one of the more important voices in the self-help genre over the past few decades. His signature work, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, was first published in 1989 and has sold over 15 million copies in 38 languages. These numbers suggest that Dr. Covey’s observations […]
March
03
The Hard Truth About Interviews
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
One of the frequent actions a leader must undertake is the autopsy of a failed promotional interview. Leaders strive to achieve and upgrade their seat from coach to business class when opportunities present. As the saying goes, “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. However, taking a positive step of trying to make a vertical move in your organization brings with […]
February
14
Captain Miller’s Rule – Gripes Go Up
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
War movies are sort of a cliche for finding leadership material. For one, they are not everyone’s favorite genre’, so a respectable portion of aspirant leaders may not read any farther when someone starts quoting their favorite scenes. On the other hand, the topic of leadership is something endemic to the military, especially due to the […]
February
01
The Natural Order of Things
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
It would not be a stretch to say that if you asked many people what the “natural career progression” would be at work, you would get many answers. This is a topic that is different with every team and is a product of organizational economic stability, culture, experience, and potentially even the dominating personality of the […]
January
13
What Kind Of Follower Are You?
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
This blog is about the art of leadership, and as I have said on several occasions, is aimed at the leader, the aspiring leader, and those who are led. Many of the topics I have covered thus far focus in on the perspective of those first two groups. The last group, the led, are known by another […]
December
29
Of Resolutions and Such, Part 1 – Email Sucks
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
There are several interesting articles that discuss the many reasons email sucks. From ambiguous etiquette rules, to poor expression of emotion, to the permanency of your heat-of-the-moment rants, email can be frustrating to the leader and the follower alike. From a leadership perspective, email can be a time suck that delays or even defeats your […]
December
22
Culture vs. People
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
In my morning newspaper today was a story about the hometown college football team who suspended the quarterback for the rest of the season for violating a team rule. While this may not be a higher order “man bites dog” story, I was struck by a number of elements to the drama. The player in […]
November
09
What’s Your Story?
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
It is a human experience to tell stories to communicate between each other. Psychologists and neurologists see this as the quintessential human behavior. From Homer’s Iliad to the most recent popular fiction, humans using the power of story is a staple of nearly every culture and community that has graced the earth since recorded time. […]
October
27
You Keep Using That Word – Communicating Effectively
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
Resolving communication problems can appear to be simplistic when written as a five-step action plan. In the real world, the causes for miscommunication between yourself and another, or your entire team, may be a much more difficult issue to tackle. Depending on your emotional IQ, or your teams, no one may be even willing to […]
October
08
When it Sucks – Suck it Up!
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
It is pretty unlikely that a worker in our traditional American workplace will spend their entire working life without at some point feeling the sting of a defeat. It could be the failure of a project, or getting passed by for an opportunity, or simply unexpected feedback that conflicts with their own self-narrative. I clearly remember […]
The Truth, and Other Things
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
There are two possibilities about your team that you can contemplate from your position of leader. The first possibility is that they will follow you because they want to. Or, they will follow you because they have to. Despite the apparent differences that each of these realities suggest, there is one important similarity. You have […]
Is the Interview Started? – Leading Self
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
The point at which you make a decision to attempt to advance your position in your current job can come at many points. It may have been when you were first considering joining an organization in the first place. It may have been after you started (at the bottom) and having put in some time and […]
Reality…What A Concept
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
There are many stories in and around the workplace, but none are arguably more frustrating to the new leader than inheriting the narratives of all your teammates. Cy Wakeman, author of “Reality-Based Leadership” argues that drama is emotionally expensive for all concerned. As both leader and a peer within your own team, you will find […]
July
03
Defining the “Reluctant Warrior”
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
It’s review time. You are sitting down with a teammate talking development and goals and the future with a hardworking, productive member of your organization. In the midst of this, comes the following – “Do I need to have goals and a career development plan? I don’t want to be a leader”. Hopefully, your hair […]
Leading Self – “Whom Do I Lead? – Part I”
posted by Jeffrey Thomason
John Maxwell has noted that one of the most important things you can do, as a leader, is to learn to lead yourself. As we continue to look at the answer to the previous question “Who Do I Lead”, I suggest that the first, most simple answer is, …you. Maxwell created the “Mirror Principle” to […]
Top Posts & Pages
"The front of the jersey..." 