Kristin's Blog
Can You Hear Me Now?
Denny Strigl, of Verizon Wireless’ “Can you hear me now?” campaign fame, has a wonderful new book that speaks to leaders seeking a simple, yet actionable way to lead their teams and organizations. A few resonated with me:
If You Will Lead
The pursuit of knowing yourself. Many of you who follow my writings and services, know how vital I believe true self-awareness is to us as leaders. This principle is also one of the foundations of a dear friend’s new and fabulous book, “If You Will Lead”, based in Rudyard Kipling’s beloved poem “If-“.
Change is Up to Us
Many of us may be facing hard, relatively large, and potentially life-changing career decisions. Will we decide to stay in our current position or company even though we are not totally happy or fulfilled? Will we take that promotion which may bring greater span of control, power, and money though it may not be what we really want to do? Given the condition of the job market, will we decide to stay put despite being somewhat disenchanted?
The Motivation to Act
This past week I had the incredible opportunity to see and hear His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, along with Sister Helen Prejean, of Dead Man Walking fame, and Vincent Harding, a long-time civil rights activist who worked tirelessly with Martin Luther King. The energy in the room was palpable. Whether you agree with their passionate positions on non-violence or not, their solidarity around tolerance, compassion and love is undeniable; and many of their messages are universal truths.
From Actor to CEO?
I found this past week’s “Corner Office” in The New York Times particularly provocative. Adam Bryant interviewed Caryl M. Stern, president and chief executive of the U.S. Fund for Unicef. Her background is diverse and interesting. She graduated from Westchester Community College where she was involved in theatre. Mr. Bryant acknowledged she was one of several CEO’s he has interviewed who also studied theatre. What was the lesson? This was her answer:
“You need to be able to get up and deliver the good news and the bad news. It’s just that same feeling before you go on stage, and you take that deep breath. In my organization now, with several hundred people working for me, I have to be that policeman and that show leader at the same time. So what better training is there?”
The "Net-Net" on CEO's
As most of you know, I am an avid reader of Adam Bryant’s The Corner Office in the Sunday New York Times. This Sunday’s article was succinct, powerful, and rich in information. If you are interested in building your skills and attributes as a leader – this article is worth the time to read through completely. In…
The Man in the Mirror
Ok, I’ll admit it, I love American Idol. This year’s season has been strange. The talent is amazing, and yet to think that Pia Toscano would be voted off is simply shocking. I have always loved Michael Jackson’s rendition of “Man in the Mirror” and this past weeks performance by Jacob Lusk was fabulous. As…
Be the Model
How many times have we been a part of a team or the leader of a team, where behaviors are disruptive to the success of the team? These behaviors can be anything from classic passive aggressive behavior to constant interruptions by a certain person when in meetings to someone always being late. This can be super frustrating and discouraging.…
The Power of Language
In a letter to her husband, John Adams, Abigail Adams said: “We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.” I imagine we have all been there at one time or another: when folks say much, yet do not live in integrity with their words and actions. It can be…
Silence is Golden
A lot has been written about the use of silence in selling, negotiating, and in all sorts of business scenarios. There is a good reason for that! There comes a point in almost any sales pitch or negotiation when the other person should be talking AND there comes a point when no one should be…