By: John Sandahl As leaders, we may not feel a strong compulsion to “get feedback” on our own performance. The process is time consuming, for one; we’ve already been hired or promoted to leadership because of a strong track record of performance; and it’s also difficult to trust the feedback

By: Gary Cohen In reviewing recent surveys of top leaders by The Conference Board, Bain, World Economic Forum the six most significant and top challenges CEOs face that need to be addressed by organizations are: Attracting, Growing and Retaining trustworthy and capable Leadership Integrating Social Responsibility into the business model.

If you want a glimpse into how well an organization is run, take a look at how they run their meetings. The value they get out of their meetings usually reflects how well the organization is run as a whole. Meetings are designed to accomplish a particular objective. There are

The quality of an organization’s meetings is often tied to the quality of the organization’s overall work. Like effective organizations, effective meetings have clearly defined roles and objectives. There are four different types of meetings: decision-making, informational, creative, and motivational. While every meeting type is important, decision-making meetings are perhaps

In his book, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, Thomas L. Friedman observes that three forces are combining to change our world at unprecedented rates: the exponential growth of computing power and access (Moore’s law), the widespread and connected effect of

Corporate Culture ‘The single greatest tool in any leader’s toolkit is culture,” Mike Harper, former chairman and CEO of ConAgra, explained to me during an interview at his home. Culture is like the water in the aquarium; the fish don’t even know it’s there and yet it affects everything, and

  An Interview on Becoming Wise with Krista Tippett Becoming wise is a bar that most of us should reach for. And it is a difficult one to achieve. I have had the good fortune of knowing Krista Tippett for the past five years and the pleasure, like many of

The Essential Guide to SWOT Analysis is a comprehensive and interactive guide that introduces and then details the fundamental aspects of SWOT analysis. The co-authors, Jackson Hille, Content Associate of FormSwift, and Justin Gomer, a Lecturer at UC Berkeley, decided to make the guide upon noticing the below average quality

A Business Book Bonanza of Minnesota Based Authors In January, the Business Book Breakfast began— and groups of 25-50 exciting, high energy, curious and fun people have gathered at 6:45 AM the 4th Wednesday of every month, to share thoughts and ideas about five very amazing books. It was decided

Decision Model A model can be anything that defines a process (iterative, linear, or chaotic) in which you move from a particular starting point to a desired destination. Some models are rather straight forward. Take, for instance, planning a business trip from Rochester, MN (my home town) to Los Angeles,

Leadership Goals are accomplished by great leaders by using the process known as GPSing. You must first begin by asking goal questions, then position Q.

How much Klout do you have? Klout measures your level of influence online. To increase your Klout score, you must drive action online (by getting lots of “likes” and comments on Facebook and LinkedIn, retweets on Twitter and reshares on Google+, for instance). Just generating online content isn’t enough; people

Leaders want to stand out. They want to separate themselves from other leaders, their coworkers, and their predecessors. It’s helpful for leaders to remember, however, the importance of fitting in with the group and the power of social contagion. In order to maintain our social bonds, we mimic others. We

When I ask leaders where they are most productive, they often say on the plane. They enjoy being unplugged for several hours, and they get more done.  Avoid using wifi on planes if you can. And if you’re not on a plane, imagine you are for the next few hours.

Sometimes not feeling like you belong has more to do with you than with the others in the group. Try changing the question. Instead of asking yourself “Do I belong?” or “Why don’t I belong?” ask, “How do I belong?”

It is strategic planning season for businesses. As an executive coach and strategist I am spending a great deal of my time working with companies on their planning for 2011. It is always amazing to me how many executives have decision making criteria in their head to evaluate what is