We are less than one month from beginning a year that will be filled with almost unbelievable technological and other rapid, dramatic change in every industry and every organization in the world, including every healthcare organization. 2015 will bring incredible opportunities for personal, professional, and organizational success. The new year will also bring many difficult personal, …
“If you believe being overly busy and overextended is evidence of productivity, then you probably believe that creating space to explore, think, and reflect should be kept to a minimum.” So writes Greg McKeown in his excellent book titled Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less. Many leaders would not admit it, but their actions speak far …
As I’ve been working on writing my latest book, Be An Inspirational Leader: Engage, Inspire, Empower, I have (obviously) been thinking a lot about great leadership. In one of the chapters in the book I explore the topic of being accountable as a leader and what that looks like. There are many facets to being …
In chapter 4 of his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less, Greg McKeown discusses the critical issue of continuous ‘trade-offs’ in our personal, professional and organizational lives. To make his point McKeown summarizes the hugely successful story of Southwest Airlines and how its leadership, led by Herb Kelleher for many years, has produced amazing financial results, …
Life is all about choices. The same is true regarding leadership. Leadership is all about choices. The short-term, long-term, and ultimate fate of every leader—that includes you—is determined by his or her choices. Highly successful leaders make wise, proactive choices. We are in a study of the excellent book titled Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less, written by Greg …
When you were in high school, did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you think you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up? How about now—wherever you ended up, whatever career you’re currently pursuing, have you ever thought about how differently things might have been had …
In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown writes: “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order …
No matter what job you have, most likely your position doesn’t require all of your talents. There are certain skills, hobbies, and unique abilities that you could bring to the table, but there just doesn’t seem to be a need for them in your current position. It might be singing, dancing, painting, writing, photography, …
Continuing our study of Greg McKeown’s book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, this week we look at a crucial and liberating leadership question. How many leaders and organizations teach, coach, and explicitly empower ALL of their team members to ask and act on the following question? “Is this the most important thing I should be doing with …
Years ago, when I was working for VHA, there was a small family-owned and operated deli on the first floor of the building where our national offices were located. The deli was a convenient place to have coffee or a soda with a colleague, or to have lunch. I ate there frequently, as did …
Jon Gordon, a successful leadership author, thought leader, and speaker, recently visited West Point Military Academy to speak and to interact with cadets, coaches, and the military brass. Following his visit, Jon wrote an article titled 9 Leadership Lessons from my Visit to West Point. He explains that although he was there to teach, he ended …
I It was my honor recently to serve as facilitator for a day of important discussion among a group of 10 hospital and health system CEOs. Over the years, these CEOs have developed significant trust. They clearly understand the immense and enduring power of partnership, alignment, and working together for the greater success of all. …
As nice as it is to receive a gift or be the recipient of a favor, I really think there is no greater joy than being the one serving others. And the benefits of serving others go far beyond receiving a heartfelt ‘Thank you.’ Simply knowing I’ve helped someone or surprised them with something special …
I have always considered every person to be a leader. Not in the sense of a senior leader of a company, with direct reports and senior leadership responsibility, but in the sense of influencing others. For me, leadership is all about influence. We all influence others at home, in our family, in our …
In his book The Little Book Of Talent: 52 Tips For Improving Your Skills, Daniel Coyle discusses ‘hard, high-precision skills’ versus ‘soft, high-flexibility skills.’ According to Coyle, hard, high-precision skills “have one path to an ideal result; skills that you could imagine being performed by a reliable robot.” Soft, high-flexibility skills “have many paths to a good …
As a leader, your job, your responsibility, your priority is not to manage nor accept the status quo. Your job, your responsibility, your priority is to personally exemplify continuous improvement and to create and maintain a culture that encourages and supports continuous improvement. That means a culture that encourages, accepts, supports and learns from mistakes. In the chapter …
A couple of years out of high school, I had a job that I absolutely hated. The environment was everything a personal, professional, and organizational development and growth environment should not be! I did not stay long, but long enough to never, ever forget the terrible, degrading, negative-driven environment in which I worked. Even though I absolutely …