Every once in a while, a set of events line up and become a catalyst for change. Some of us are blindsided and harshly jostled into reality, and some of us willfully stay blind, refusing to believe the game board has shifted, and that there are new … [Read more...]
Leadership Spotlight: Teri Wilder
For Leadership Spotlight, Leadership Advisor Karl Bimshas, speaks with a diverse array of busy professionals in various stages of their career and along different paths of their leadership journey. Here’s a summary of his conversation with Teri … [Read more...]
Knowing Your Values
Here's why knowing your values is so important. When you know them, you make decisions faster, and those decisions support you, they don't sabotage you. You know the difference between when you are acting congruent with your values, and when you are … [Read more...]
Leaders Ask
Leaders think differently, which is one of the reasons they stand out from the crowd. Crowds tend to settle, content with how things are, or lamenting about how things were. Leaders like comfort too, but in smaller doses. They know too much … [Read more...]
Poor Leadership Pisses Me Off
Rationale, reflection, and gratitude for my business and a quest to improve the state of leadership. Throughout my management career at both Fortune 500, and regional companies, I encouraged direct reports and peers alike to stop deferring … [Read more...]
Fathers and Leadership
For Father’s Day, I’m posting four essays that I’ve written over the years about leadership and ways my father and grandfathers have influenced me. It is an embarrassingly insignificantly small thank you to them, and a reminder to you, that in some … [Read more...]
How to Reflect: “Huh? No Duh. A-ha!”
Busy professionals are notorious for not making time to reflect on their activities. “Too busy,” they say. Which is an ineffective excuse. Periodically take stock of your current level of awareness to learn what you are doing, or could be … [Read more...]
Hire a New Boss
Many managers are under appreciated. They endure direct reports endlessly complaining about everything from salary to the temperature of the office. From above, there is the piling on of more demands, fewer resources and pressure to achieve random … [Read more...]
Rule of Three
I have a personal operating principle I call my rule of threes. I am sure, based on my background, that it is deeply influenced by the writing principle of the same name. omne trium perfectum The human mind likes sets of three. Three is more … [Read more...]
Growing Confidence and Support
We are each ultimately responsible for our level of confidence and support on any given task in our lives. Be it at home, work, or anywhere else. Too often we take our feelings for granted and accept them without challenging them. This can be a … [Read more...]
Revisit Plan A
The summer between my college freshman and sophomore years I worked behind a customer service desk at a neighborhood bank. While there I learned a lot about interacting with clients, particularly over sensitive issues. Never mess with a person's … [Read more...]
Be Less of a Jerk
Be less of a jerk. That may be the most simplistic leadership advice you'll ever receive. Why then, is it so difficult to achieve? Because, we glamorize people who act like jerks. By definition, they are quick, sharp and sudden, which are … [Read more...]
Reflections on Leadership 7/26/15
Stop Planning Plans organize your thoughts and resources. They are a half step better than an idea. Ideas and plans are the beginning, and you are spending way too much time on them. If you secretly enjoy brainstorming and planning, then you … [Read more...]
Leadership Calling
In many ways, modern leadership has become a caricature of itself. Our curiosity to define it, our vigor to pursue it, and our zeal to admonish it from others, does little to improve our current condition. Celebrity gets confused for leadership; … [Read more...]
Reflections on Leadership 6/28/15
Lead Like You Mean It Leadership is not a passive activity. Every decision gets made, not deferred. Leaders do not scroll through their emails in the morning and react to an insomniacs musings. Leaders set the agenda, draw the picture of … [Read more...]
Leadership Starts at Home
Think back to the early leaders in your life. I suppose, you could argue that the doctor who delivered you counts, however, most would agree it was probably your parents or other guardians who were your first leadership models. Every day, through … [Read more...]
Beware Leaders of Silos who Think it’s a Lighthouse
There are some busy executives who appear bigger than life. Their charismatic, bold, innovative expressions with sweeping visual displays make a nice, even inspiring show. However, leadership is not about being bigger than your surroundings. It is … [Read more...]
Ask Your Direct Reports Their Opinion and They May Hate You Less
Probably your direct reports don't hate you, Things are not that bad. It might be mild discontent. But, what could explain the fact that they don't seem to get it. If only they could stop driving you crazy and just do their job like they are supposed … [Read more...]
The Practice of Sincerity
“Practice what you preach and act with integrity,” are phrases that people throw about frequently, along with words like genuine, credible, authentic and sincere. During the Roman Empire, less reputable potters and sculptors would fill … [Read more...]
Emerging Mother?
I never liked the term emerging leader. It’s like calling a woman who’s pregnant an emerging mother. It’s clunky, vague and rude. I accept that leadership is a continuum, but it’s not based on time, it’s based on effectiveness. How do you increase … [Read more...]