Twice to this point, I’ve alluded to the significant difference in the results we can achieve by earning genuine influence rather than relying solely on the authority of our position or title. If a mentor has been effective in helping us close our leadership gaps, that’s been through the influence t...

In wrapping up our look at fostering a mentorship culture, I shared how simple I believe creating a leadership legacy can truly be; it’s not at all out of reach when we focus on the impact we can have on those around us rather than how we may be remembered because of it. That’s where humility comes ...

When we can pair humility with confidence, regardless of our level of positional authority in any given situation, we have the opportunity to create authentic, impactful relationships. Those relationships are the ones where we can expect to see a measurable return on investment through the increased...

In detailing the role mentors play in helping bridge our leadership gaps, I shared an example Terry provided in dozens of behavior-based safety training sessions explaining that influence, not authority defines leadership. The humility we’ve been looking at here not only has the power to overcome eg...

With that stark difference fresh in your mind, the difference in how a handful of managers in a completely foreign industry refused input from anyone and how I’ve seen Mark Cole actively solicit thoughts from someone as removed from his company’s bottom line as me, let’s consider the significant rol...

In addition to genuine humility, the mentors I’ve learned the most from over the last three decades have all been intentional about learning everything they possibly can from others. To that end, their humility serves them as a gateway to the wisdom they’ve been able to pass on to me and so many oth...

We started down this path with an emphasis on the reality that there is no such thing as a self-made leader. For someone like me with a highly DRIVEN behavioral style, it would be nearly impossible to get much value from anything resembling a candid conversation with someone who believes they’ve bec...

If we think back to how we started this look at Leadership Misunderstood, the biggest myths we’ve taken aim at here were few but extremely common:

• People automatically follow a business owner, executive, manager (or whatever other title you want to insert here) because their paycheck depends on i...

As we started down this path, I shared a piece of John Maxwell’s story about how he learned that influence was far more important than a title or position when it came to getting anyone to follow you. And let’s be honest: if no one is following, we ain’t leading!

To provide a personal response to D...

I see or hear something every couple of months that gets me all riled up and on a soapbox calling attention to the stark differences between managing a group of people and actually leading a team. One of the biggest misconceptions I’ve seen is that those two words, leading and managing, can be used ...

I’m sure more than a few crusty old managers tuned me out completely when I tied the volunteer work my Granny did to leadership. They’re certainly entitled to their opinions, even when they’re wrong! That said, I know all too well how important it is for each of us to get results that show up on our...

Having addressed how the idea of leadership is so often misunderstood, tying back to some of the most common myths around leadership, and hashing out what it is and what it’s not, let’s dig into why it even matters before detailing some of the specifics you and I can each do to make the positive imp...