The changes and improvements we try to make to others must also be the changes and improvements we're trying to make to ourselves.  more  

The moose represents an issue that everyone knows is a problem but isn't being addressed. People are trying to carry on as if things are normal. By failing to declare the issue, they further empower it.  more  

A strong set of core values leads life from the inside out, focusing energy and projecting forward becoming our vision.  more  

Each of us learns from what surrounds us. But then we have to ask ourselves whether these things really reflect our own personal values.  more  

Building a strong partnership between staff and council is essential to effective municipal management. In many instances this lack of harmonization is caused by lack of agreement on the defined roles for both staff and council members.  more  

One deadly consequence of the management credibility gap is that employees emotionally distance and disengage themselves from their bosses and their organizations, and this we/they schism can have profoundly negative consequences.  more  

Show, do not just tell what the organization stands for. Senior management must work as a team to lower the teamwork snicker factor when declaring teamwork to be a core value.  more  

Leaders recognize that few frontline people are going to be assertive enough to break through the invisible management barriers to come into their office and raise an issue.  more  

A key test of whether core values are alive and real in an organization is to ask team members at random to recite those values. If they can't do it without referring to a piece of paper, there are either too many values or they aren't being used in daily operations.  more  

"We must be the change we wish to see in this world." — Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist and spiritual leader who developed the practice of nonviolent disobedience that forced Great Britain to grant independence to India in 1947  more  

When change fails, it can almost always be traced to dysfunctional leadership.  more  

A few examples of the multitude of ways to gain a true picture of how you and your management team's actions are viewed through your organization.  more  

Reputation is what people think I am. Personality is what I seem to be. Character is what I really am. Our goal should be to blur the lines between the three until they are one and the same. That means living life from the inside out.  more  

As managers, our frequency, sensitivity, and action (or lack of it) on personal performance feedback sets the pace and tone for the rest of our team and organization.  more  

We tend to define levels of service or quality through our own eyes and values. That may not be the way our customers or partners define it. If we're going to improve the service or quality delivered, we need to first understand how those we're serving, or producing for, perceive service or quality.  more  

Leaders know that is hard to see the bigger picture when you're inside the frame. That's why they regularly step back to see themselves, their team, or their organization through the eyes of others.  more  

Mistrust of management and low morale are significant factors in the widening we-they gap between frontline people and managers. Building trust is essential to an organization's success.  more  

We need to be careful about what we wish for – the popular goals of security, stability, and predictability are deadly. The closer we get, the more our growth is stunted and learning reduced.  more  

Honesty and integrity are key ingredients in developing trust. Trust is a key element in establishing credibility. Our credibility is at the center of our ability to influence others and provide strong leadership. Examples of characteristics that are the hallmark of strong leaders — sincere, truthful, trustworthy, reliable, principled, and genuine.  more  

Hypocrisy is "the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness." Authentic leadership is from the inside out. When we are true to ourselves and actively blaze our own leadership pathway, it's impossible to be a leadership hypocrite — despite how others might see us.  more  

Team members act like their leader – despite all attempts to train them otherwise. Changing them won't succeed unless it is preceded by the leader changing his or her behaviour.  more  

Leading successfully in tough times calls for openness, a willingness to outline the difficult situation clearly, and provide cost-reduction guidelines, as well as an ability to express our own pain.  more  

The deepest and most lasting leadership comes from the inside out. It's authentic. It's real. When you live from the depths of the heart, you walk your talk, heed your conscience, and don't hesitate to take a stand.  more  

Feedback is central to learning. Faulty feedback is one of the biggest contributors to organization, team, and personal learning disabilities. If we don't know how we are doing, we can't improve.  more  

Our values and priorities will change as we move through different stages of our lives. Discover the Clarifying and Living Personal Values approaches that can help you to avoid the pitfalls and pave your organization's pathway to success.  more  

Core values are critical to effectively leading people. Discover the Living Organizational Values approaches that can help you to avoid the pitfalls and pave your pathway to success.  more  

Only through knowing where we are can we change where we are going. Discover the Personal Feedback approaches that can help you to avoid the pitfalls and pave your organizations pathway to success.  more  

Whether on the high seas or in a corporate boardroom, maps, charts, or plans are very useful in plotting a course to where we want to go. But they are useless if we don't know where we are now.  more  

It's often difficult to be true to ourselves — it generally means we don't follow the crowd. Standing up and standing firm for our beliefs can be lonely and unpopular. Find out why the thumb stands apart from the other four fingers.  more  

Successful self-leadership is the beginning to successful team or organization leadership. You can't build a team or organization that's different from you.  more  

Strong leaders maintain a close connection between what they say and what they do. They don't try to make others into something that they are not themselves.  more  

Values provide a sense of common direction for all employees and guidelines for day-to-day behavior. Studies show the benefits of values-based leadership.  more  

Six questions to help you discover whether your career is healthy -- and, if it isn't, to help put it back on track.  more  

The moose represents an issue that everyone knows is a problem but isn't being addressed. People are trying to carry on as if things are normal.  more  

Designing statements, putting them into action and consistently showing what the organization stands for.  more  

It's the moose on the table: Everyone knows there's a communication problem, but nobody admits it. How to deal with lack of candour.  more  

Appreciation of customer and employee perspectives and understanding process from the inside requires leaders to experience hands-on.  more  

We can't build a team or organization that's different from us. Successful team or organization leadership begins with successful self-leadership. The first step in improving my team or organization is improving me.  more