Field notes
Field Notes
Our thoughts on current leadership topics and questions.
Over the past decade, merger and acquisition activities have skyrocketed across the global economy. While this activity has created tremendous opportunity for many organizations, it also puts pressure on leaders to bring two teams together as one.
When you learn the behaviors and routines of well-known leaders, you have something special to replicate. That’s what a role model is really all about ––to do what others do that works.
Every day, leaders have the chance to reinforce what really matters. The best leaders recognize that if they lead with these values, every decision, even those with less-than-ideal outcomes, can have a positive effect on the collective.
Since leaders do not have a crystal ball and cannot speak precisely about what’s ahead uncertainty becomes a scapegoat for them. The best leaders I work with resist the urge to use the unknown as justification for silence.
In recent years, employees increasingly express that they want the freedom to be themselves at work, and it’s no wonder why. The pressure is enormous and drives us away from human connection and towards depression and unfulfillment.
We were having a conversation about this client’s cadre of direct reports, and some of the developmental challenges and opportunities across them. Part of this conversation turned to the directs’ view of our client and his leadership skills, and it was then that I heard her describe what, to me at least, is a cardinal sin of leadership.
We may not all have a specific leadership title in our day-to-day, but we all can become a leader. We can step into this role with our families, communities, at school, or at work by practicing behavioral leadership consistently.