Month: May 2017

A good Tuesday to everyone, and hopefully you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and took time to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we can do what we do. What I've Learned So Far Moving is a pain no matter how many times you do it, but this latest one was the largest and most complicated by far.  Couple that with part of a load in and load out being in a monsoon- where nothing goes well- and it was the most stressful yet.  Therefore, the blog today is a little late and a little less lesson-oriented.  I'm still looking for my keyboard, printer, socks, alarm clock... Four Things I've Learned, or Re-Learned  Leadership can and does happen in all formats and within all scenarios.  It…

Five Ways To Deal With Cowardly Leadership - Part II Last week I wrote about how you the citizen and voter and employee can affect change in dealing with Cowardly Leaders.  I outlined the first three of five ways that all of us can deal with and influence Cowardly Leadership.  If you missed it, read it here. Now, let's look at the final two methods. Fourth- Research and Communicate Become involved.  Go to the School Board Meeting at times when there is nothing on the agenda that concerns you.  Go to the City Council meeting to see how the meetings are conducted.  Find out who really is making the decisions- is it the chief elected official?  The hired staff person?  Other elected officials?  Important people in the audience?  Find out. Talk…

Embed from Getty Images Five Ways to Deal With Cowardly Leadership Last week I outlined four of the most egregious traits that Cowardly Leaders possess.  Turning over their authority and power to others.  Being yes men regardless of the topic.  Becoming self appointed experts. I witnessed that first hand recently in an election where a council member with no municipal experience whatsoever-none-self proclaimed he was the expert in hiring procedures.  Confidence is believing you're good.  Cockiness is believing you're better than anyone else.  Hubristic arrogance is believing it with no experience to back it up. How Can We Deal With Cowardly Leadership? The $64,000 question- sometimes a lot more than that, in fact- is what to do about it.  What do you do, and more to the point, what can you do?…

Four Traits Cowardly Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Many are elected officials in cities and counties and school boards across the U.S. A good percentage are politically appointed and have as their primary duty the responsibility of saying “yes” whenever asked by the person who placed them there. Regardless of the position, cowardly leaders have certain attributes in common. If you witness any of these four traits in your local leaders that cowardly leaders possess, you can be pretty confident that they are a Cowardly Leader. I.  Façade Leadership A common tactic from cowardly leaders is to celebrate false issue victories. They elevate, or create, issues that have little importance and minor impact to their community or jurisdiction, and then celebrate those “wins” as if they were important…

I wrote about the "good enough for government work" attitude here.  I never want to live in a city that strives to be no worse than anywhere else.  I'm betting that you don't, either. Mediocre Leaders Joseph Grenny, writing in the Harvard Business Review,  says:  "(Executives) have no moral authority to ask other managers to hold people accountable if you're not doing so yourself...Unfortunately, if you're hoping for a silver bullet to address a mediocre performer, I have little to offer.  Chronic mediocrity is a symptom of ineffective leadership, not anemic personnel." Local elected officials, in order to have any degree of credibility, AND, in order to affect real change in an organization, must do the following: Hold themselves accountable and to the highest reasonable standard; Hold their employees accountable and to…