I had a few things going for me leading into the interview for the behavior-based safety facilitator role: a tremendous work ethic, a willingness to jump at any opportunity that was even mildly offered, and a hunger to advance. That said, there was very little polish to any of it. Couple my rough ed...

I’ll be completely transparent here, the only things I had going for me leading up to that interview for the behavior-based safety facilitator role was that I was willing to work hard and I had been actively involved in a few aspects of the process. I hadn’t touched a text book since high school, an...

My senior year of high school was a whirlwind. While I did the bare minimums to skate through my required classes, I was working as hard as I knew how in what turned into a full time job before I even graduated and dove in head first to every other kind of shenanigan I could find as soon as I clocke...

I’ve often heard the phrase, “Life is tough. It’s even tougher if you’re stupid.” As harsh as that may be, here’s some context: I could share dozens of difficult situations I fought through in my teens and early twenties, most of which were self-induced, that could have provided me with far more val...

Earlier as we looked at maximizing the return on investment in relationships, I stressed the importance of choosing them wisely and nurturing those relationships to ensure everyone involved had ample opportunity for growth. While identifying the key experts we’ll need in our lives in order to compen...

While working with a client’s leadership team about a decade ago, we were discussing their opportunities for improving processes, and by default, their overall profitability. One of the most senior team members commented on a specific function, saying “We’ve done it that way for thirty years, that’s...

In June of 2000, I was only about a month into my new role facilitating (I’m intentionally not calling it leading and you’ll see why shortly) the 5S implementation across 200,000 square feet of the facility I worked in. In case you’re familiar with the idea, Sorting everything in a work area, Settin...

To lead with influence over authority, to fully utilize the strength of humility, to ever begin to develop others, or to even capture the slightest return on investment from our relationships, we’ve got to realize that we are indeed capable and worthy of all those things. Without knowing your worth,...

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...

The best leaders I (Cindy) know have learned the Art of Leadership as much or more than the Science of Leadership. 

The Art of Leadership Learning is the intuitive piece of gaining the right skills to lead effectively.  It’s not the Science of Leadership, although that is important. It's the Art o...

So you have a title that carries some authority, not to mention more than a fair amount of responsibility; what do you need to do now?

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve seen someone land themselves a position with a fancy title, be it fresh out of school or after several years with their ...

Originally shared in A Daily Dose Of Leadership on August 14, 2020.

Have you heard stories of people dying soon after they retire? In many cases, that seems to serve as motivation for considering early retirement and enjoying the time we have left. But according to a study I read recently on WebMD,...