Jim Hunter on Servant Leadership
Jim Hunter has been training servant leaders for over 30 years and is the author of two internationally best-selling books on the topic. Servant leadership brings love to leadership, and Hunter defines it as "the business of identifying and meeting people's legitimate needs, seeking their greatest good so they can grow." In this interview, Hunter discusses how to create real change through servant... posted on Aug 7, 29679 reads

The Ten Gifts of A Servant Leader
"As many small trickles of water feed the mightiest of rivers, the growing number of individuals and organizations practicing servant-leadership has increased into a torrent, one that carries with it a deep current of meaning and passion. Robert K. Greenleaf 's idea of servant-leadership, now in its fourth decade as a concept bearing that name, continues to create a quiet revolution in workplaces ... posted on Jun 4, 121427 reads

Are You a Servant Leader?
Servant leadership is one of the most talked about yet least critically examined leadership philosophies. While many people identify with this leadership approach, an equal number are cynical and question whether such expectations of leaders are realistic. The following article provides a fascinating introduction to the concept based on the work of Robert Greenleaf and Larry Spears, and illuminate... posted on Jan 21, 7854 reads

Servant Leadership: Helping People Come Alive
"It's a powerful perspective on work -- holding within it a value for collaboration, agency, creativity, and meaning. What if we all could see what we do in that way? What if our organizations supported us in holding that perspective, and to go one step further, how can we create institutions that release these core values? In his seminal 1970 essay 'The Servant as Leader,' Robert Greenleaf coined... posted on Jul 31, 21497 reads

Peak Performance: Lessons in Leadership from Mountain Guides
Leadership is needed in times of upheaval and transition -- but what are the qualities it takes to be an effective leader and a positive influence? Christopher I. Maxwell of the Wharton Center for Leadership delves into this question in an interview. In it he discusses his book, "Lead Like a Guide: How World Class Mountain Guides Inspire Us to Be Better Leaders." Maxwell interviewed mountain guid... posted on May 5, 12647 reads

Leadership Lessons from Everyday Life
"Leadership is a capability that each of us has within us. It is formed as we take on the opportunities and challenges of everyday life, and it is measured by our successes and failures. It is my belief and experience that the leadership lessons we learn in our everyday lives can and should be carried with us into our work environments, and that they can help us become better leaders of our people... posted on May 12, 9523 reads

The Courage Way: Leading and Living with Integrity
"Leadership demands courage. You have to make good decisions while balancing inevitable tensions and knowing when to take risks. You need to keep your values in sight regardless of the pressures around you. At its core, leadership is a daily ongoing practice, a journey toward becoming your best self and inviting others to do the same. And that's where The Courage Way comes in. It's a guide to lead... posted on Jul 22, 6055 reads

In Praise of Selflessness
"Who are you doing it for? Asked that question, many entrepreneurs would answer, 'me.' There's nothing wrong with that. Plenty of great companies were built by people for whom CEO is an imperfect acronym for "He who must be obeyed." Servant leaders, by contrast, put their people and their organizations before themselves. They don't view employees as a means to an end; rather employees' happiness a... posted on Oct 12, 6494 reads

12 Principles of Spiritually Intelligent Leadership
"What makes a great leader? Some say it is the ability to give a clear sense of direction. Some, that it is the ability to make tough decisions. Others, that great leadership is the ability to command and control, or, conversely, to inspire loyalty in those led through strong emotional empathy. I think that great leadership depends primarily on vision--not just any type of vision, but one that we ... posted on Mar 24, 9730 reads

Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership
Why do many of our attempts to address the challenges of our times fail? This article presents the view that two leaders in the same environment acting in the same way can bring about completely different outcomes depending on the inner place from which each operates. We know very little about this inner dimension and this lack of knowledge constitutes a blind spot in our approach to leadership an... posted on Jul 9, 87280 reads

How Is Your Leadership Changing?
Well-known author and organizational consultant Margaret Wheatley has written about a troubling trend: the movement of today's leadership toward a command-and-conquer model that stifles worker motivation and creativity. In this article she challenges readers to check in on their leadership styles and to consider moving toward a style that is more trusting and distributive of responsibility. To thi... posted on Oct 3, 27401 reads

Healthy Habits of Heart & Mind In Leadership
As the world rapidly transforms around us each day, there is a growing need for us to create sustainable human communities. And in that vision, great leadership is paramount --leadership that not only calls for clarity of vision, but also a healthy dose of empathy that allows us to identify with, and understand, one another's situations, feelings, and motives. This article shares some healthy hab... posted on Nov 17, 16872 reads

How Conscious Leadership Can Unlock a Better Workplace
Diana Chapman is one of the world's foremost experts on conscious leadership, and co-author of the influential book, "The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership". Her mission is to help individuals, teams, and organizations learn how to eliminate drama and suffering from their individual and collective lives. In this interview, Diana shares her ideas about what conscious leadership is, how to star... posted on Feb 13, 8349 reads

Fostering Self-Organization
"When working in collaboration with others, where theres no single person in charge and the way forward is unclear, it can be hard to know when to lead and when to follow. In these situations, you may hope that people spontaneously self-organize to get things done, but the reality is that leadership always matters. Leadership is needed to facilitate conversations, weave connections, coordinate act... posted on Nov 23, 1657 reads

Servant Leadership in Business
Jose Juan Martinez (JJ) is no stranger to success. An industrial engineer by training he built an impressive career at Bekaert, a multinational automobile company. But despite a string of professional accomplishments, when he hit 40, the predominant feeling he experienced was that of emptiness. Seeking to address this void, he began an exploration of the world's wisdom traditions that continues to... posted on Sep 2, 15017 reads

The Principles of Great Groups
Personal leadership is a popular study topic; far less studied is group leadership. And yet, few great accomplishments are ever the work of a single individual. Our mythology, though, refuses to catch up with our reality, as we cling to the myth of the Lone Ranger, the romantic idea that great things are usually accomplished by a larger-than-life individual working alone. In actuality, as they say... posted on Mar 19, 3625 reads

Six Ways to Manage Leadership Stress
Effective leaders know that stress can be a good thing. It keeps you focused. It makes you competitive. It prompts action. But stress, as many of us know, can also turn toxic. John R. Ryan, the president of the Center for Creative Leadership, maintains that managing leadership stress comes down to a handful of critical elements: maintaining perspective, exercising, opening up, welcoming feedback, ... posted on Jan 25, 7687 reads

Leadership Through Solitude
"We have a crisis of leadership in America." In a speech delivered at West Point, writer William Deresiewicz states that many of today's leaders have jumped through the hoops and climbed up the greasy ladder of hierarchy only to maintain the status quo. Real leadership, though, "means finding a new direction, not simply putting yourself at the front of the herd that's heading toward the cliff." Th... posted on Nov 20, 8206 reads

7 Spiritual Perspectives on Personal Leadership
"How do you deal with change? How comfortable are you with what is on your plate? Are you creating or are you resisting? The quality of your leadership depends on how you deal with the cards that you draw and how you succeed using what you got." This article presents an approach for increasing personal mastery and leadership effectiveness, based on ancient spiritual wisdom from around the world. ... posted on Dec 15, 64798 reads

Talking It Out: Conversation Centered Leadership
"Every year, hundreds of thousands of new graduates enter the business world, eager to climb the corporate ladder. Their progress on the early rungs of that journey will often be determined by qualities like hard work, determination, knowledge and technical proficiency. But business consultants Alan S. Berson and Richard G. Stieglitz argue that those same qualities prove less helpful at higher run... posted on Jul 2, 36325 reads

Leaders Open Doors
"I got to open doors for people!" These are the words spoken by author Bill Treasurer's five-year-old son, and these are the words which helped him to formulate perhaps his greatest insight into the characteristics of a successful leader. That is to say, leadership isn't so much about the leader, rather it's more so about those being led. In his most recent book, Leaders Open Doors, author Bill Tr... posted on Jun 21, 19902 reads

How Emotional Intelligence Levels Up Leadership
"We all know that leadership isn't just about meeting goals or hitting targets. When we picture a good leader, we think of someone who is able to inspire, motivate, guide, support, and empathize ... They're able to connect with people on a deeper level. This requires emotional intelligence," describes health writer Sanjana Gupta. According to author and leadership coach Jerry Colona, emotional int... posted on Jan 29, 2483 reads

A Love Warrior's Incredible Generosity
Raghu Makwana lost his legs to polio as a child. But his heart was intact and growing bigger by the day. When a few students found him arranging people's footwear outside a local temple, they were struck by his sparkling intelligence and genuine warmth. They arranged to have him join a non-profit at the Gandhi Ashram in India. The move would bring Raghu's latent capacity for servant-leadership to ... posted on Feb 13, 5734 reads

Sri Lanka's Untold Story of Resilience
When the legendary Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne -- often called "the Gandhi of Sri Lanka" -- passed away last month at the age of 92, his enduring legacy of selfless love expanded in hearts across the globe. For over sixty years, Dr. Ariyaratne's humility and servant leadership stewarded thousands of self-sufficient villages in Sri Lanka. Working quietly and often behind the scenes, the unique non-governm... posted on May 7, 1561 reads

The Speed of Trust
A sought-after speaker and advisor on leadership, ethics, and high performance, Stephen M.R. Covey, former CEO of the Covey Leadership Center, is now exploring trust. In his new book, "The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything," Covey challenges age-old assumptions about trust. Interviewed here, he explains why the notion of trust as a soft, social virtue is a myth and instead demo... posted on Apr 10, 4247 reads

The Neuroscience of Leadership
Managers who understand the recent breakthroughs in cognitive science can lead and influence mindful change: organizational transformation that takes into account the physiological nature of the brain, and the ways in which it predisposes people to resist some forms of leadership and accept others. Several conclusions about organizational change can be drawn that make the art and craft far more ef... posted on Jan 27, 3546 reads

Be A Better Leader, Lead a Richer Life
Traditional thinking pits work and the rest of our lives against each other. But taking smart steps to integrate work, home, community, and self will make you a more productive leader and a more fulfilled person. "In my research and coaching work over the past two decades, I have met many people who feel unfulfilled, overwhelmed, or stagnant because they are forsaking performance in one or more as... posted on Apr 23, 3908 reads

Resonant Leadership
Leaders have responsibility, influence and, it turns out, their own brand of management maladies: power stress and the sacrifice syndrome. These afflictions and ways to avoid them are the focus of Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee's Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope and Compassion. According to these writers, the key to navigating all this i... posted on Jun 30, 3687 reads

Leadership Without a Secret Code
Being a leader anywhere can be a difficult job. In this interview, Drew Gilpin Faust discusses what her life has been like as the leader of one of the most prestigious universities in the world, Harvard. Read how Faust uses simple tools like communication and team-building to create a cohesive atmosphere. Learn how hectic and rewarding a position of leadership can be.... posted on Dec 5, 3894 reads

6 Ways Ants are Good For Business
When one finds food, others immediately gather to help bring it to storage. When one gets wounded, the rest evacuate, re-group, and pull the injured to safety. There's no formal supervision, yet ants somehow accomplish enormous tasks. That's right, ants. Sitting at a highway rest-stop one afternoon, nonprofit founder Ndubuisi Ekekwe discovered that the way ants work together has profound implicati... posted on Oct 11, 5385 reads

Third Way Leadership
"Cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien suggests we're shifting from an either/or to a both/and culture -- one that requires opening the aperture of our irises to better perceive the truth that surrounds apparent paradox. Though two conflicting views may seem irreconcilably opposed, when we expand our vision enough to encompass a whole that's larger than both, a new reality often emerges -- a thir... posted on Oct 2, 11921 reads

8 Ways To Overcome Your Leadership Blind Spots
"To be a successful leader or entrepreneur, we need to become intimate not only with our strengths but also with our blind spots, those aspects of our personality that can derail us." We all carry with us personal blindspots and biases that can hinder our effectiveness in a position of leadership. In this article, Bruna Martinuzzi helps us rub the proverbial fog from our eyes, bringing to light co... posted on Sep 18, 37910 reads

The Illusion of Control
"Control is one of humankind's greatest illusions. Let's face it -- even with all the information available and expansive educational preparation -- unexpected events often interfere with our plans and our best efforts to control an outcome or an event (and even ourselves!). And what happens to us, to those around us, and to the teams and organizations we lead when things get disrupted?" Find out ... posted on Aug 9, 34522 reads

The Most Overlooked Leadership Skill
"Even before I released the disc, I knew it was a long shot. And, unfortunately, it was a clumsy one too. We were playing Ultimate Frisbee and we were tied 14-14 with a time cap. The next point would win the game. I watched the disc fly over the heads of both teams. Everyone but me ran down the field. I cringed, helplessly, as the disc wobbled and listed left. Still, I had hope it could go our way... posted on Sep 1, 43113 reads

Fritjof Capra On Life & Leadership
Sustainability is not an individual property, but is a property of an entire web of relationships. It is a community practice. This is the profound lesson we need to learn from nature. The way to sustain life is to build and nurture community. Because of the close connection between sustainability and community, basic principles of ecology can also be understood as principles of community. In part... posted on Jun 17, 18353 reads

Three Ways to Be a More Mindful Leader
Oftentimes people are drawn to leadership roles fueled by a deep desire to make a difference in the lives of others. But the role of being a leader comes with a price: being responsible for not only getting the best out of others, but also making sure you bring out the very best in yourself. With this in mind, Janice L. Marturano, the Executive Director at the Institute for Mindful Leadership, off... posted on Feb 18, 28232 reads

Conversational Leadership: Thinking Together for a Change
If our conversations and personal relations are at the heart of our work, then how do we contribute to or take energy away from this natural process? Are we using the intelligence of just a few people instead of hundreds or thousands? What if increasing the success of efforts to cut costs and make organizations more efficient, innovative, and competitive depended on focusing on the core process o... posted on Nov 27, 5142 reads

The Power of Treating Employees Like Family
Parenting gave CEO Bob Chapman an epiphany about leadership: "Parenting is the stewardship of the precious lives that come to you through birth, adoption or second marriages. Leadership is the stewardship of the precious lives that come to you by people walking through your door and agreeing to share their gifts with you." This insight ultimately transformed how Chapman runs his company. In a new ... posted on Jan 9, 0 reads

Lead Without Trying So Hard
Lead without trying so hard -- it sounds like counter-intuitive, maybe even crazy advice. But it turns out that the well-intended attempt in leadership can often be derailed by the effort itself. As Johnson provocatively puts it in her Harvard Business Review article, "When we stop trying, we will have more charisma than we had imagined." Read on for a deeper dive into this paradoxical perspective... posted on Jan 22, 10031 reads

What Great Leadership and Music Have in Common
Management consultant Jim Crupi. who founded and runs Strategic Leadership Solutions, says all leaders should aspire to inspire, just as great music does, pointing out that "Our reaction to a great song can be so visceral that we are forever connected to it...reliving a wonderful moment." In this article he outlines seven ways a good leader can make great music to his staff or followers.... posted on Dec 3, 8920 reads

Manifesting Love at Work
In an insightful excerpt from 'Shakti Leadership: Embracing the Feminine and Masculine Power in Business', authors Nilma Bhat and Raj Sisodian express the innovative concept of brining caring and love into the workplace. Conscious companies are embracing this form of leadership, as CEO's of different companies speak about how to manifest love in a capitalist business world, whilst still being succ... posted on Feb 19, 6336 reads

Elie Wiesel on How Our Questions Unite Us
What do leadership and loneliness have in common? What is the difference between solitude and isolation? How might we live through to the other side the intense feelings of being alone that can come upon us? Maria Popova explores these rich and subtle questions in this Brain Pickings article. She delves into a rare essay, "The Loneliness of Leadership" written by holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.... posted on Aug 21, 7068 reads

The Unplanned Organization
A traditional concept in organizational leadership is that people resist change, so the standard antidote is for strong leadership to manipulate change. Yet in this article, Margaret Wheatley upends this idea of control and shows that humans are similar to natural ecosystems with an inherent impulse to grow. Life always wants to emerge, create and evolve both on the individual level and within lar... posted on Jun 15, 9258 reads

Fritjof Capra on Life and Leadership
"Sustainability is not an individual property, but is a property of an entire web of relationships. It is a community practice. This is the profound lesson we need to learn from nature. The way to sustain life is to build and nurture community. Because of the close connection between sustainability and community, basic principles of ecology can also be understood as principles of community. In par... posted on Feb 28, 10369 reads

Losing His Voice Led Him to Helping Others Strengthen Theirs
"There are lots of ways to lose your voice in this world." These words were spoken by Kevin Hancock, an award-winning author, public speaker, and CEO of Hancock Lumber, one of Americas oldest and most prestigious family businesses. In 2010, Kevin developed a voice disorder called spasmodic dysphonia. As his speaking voice became quiet, the voice of his soul became louder. This new voice urged... posted on Nov 6, 5768 reads

In Good We Trust
San Francisco has nearly one nonprofit organization for every 100 residents, and the Bay Area spends more than twice as much per capita in the nonprofit sector as the nation does as a whole. SF Bay Area innovators have been drivers of the environmental, antiwar, civil rights, and AIDS movements and now the nonprofit sector. "They wanted to change the world, and now a lot of them are, by running k... posted on Aug 11, 3842 reads

India's Tree Planting Guru
An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar. His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities. Evidence of Mr Raju's success could clearly be seen on 30 August, when he organised 300,000 villagers from over... posted on Sep 19, 4176 reads

A Quiet Savior
Though her story is nearly forgotten, she was once America's most admired civil servant. Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey's journey - honored with the FDA's first Kelsey Award - has transformed medical safety in the US and throughout the industrialized world. Thanks to Dr. Kelsey, thalidomide - causing children to be born limbless or with flipper-like arms and legs - had a far more limited effect in th... posted on Nov 16, 2879 reads

Teens Become Civil Servant Guitar Stars
After overhearing her children talk of starting a rock band and noticing that nothing ever came of their dreams, Sandra Rizkallah and her husband, Tom Pugh, decided to help. Starting with five teens, the group soon evolved into a full-fledged nonprofit that has affected 400 students. But it's become more than just music. Throughout the year, the teens put on benefit concerts, donating the proceeds... posted on Nov 5, 2087 reads

The Winter Pilgrim
In October 2007, Ann Sieben, a native of Denver, Colorado and a nuclear engineer by profession, was waiting for a work permit in Spain that never came through. Instead of looking for other work, she decided to walk on foot along an ancient pilgrimage path known as the Camino de Santiago. Later, in December of that year, she walked over 2100 kilometers from Canterbury to Rome. The following winter,... posted on Oct 26, 17574 reads