Everyone has heard it – the old saying we have two ears and one mouth, and we should use them in that proportion . . . We’ve heard it, but we seldom take action on the idea. It isn’t really because we don’t know how to listen or even that we don’t understand the value

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By Jon Meacham I’m a big fan of reading biographies of successful people because success leaves clues (I’ve explained this reasoning more completely here). This book is about a very successful man – one so multifaceted and talented that at a 1962 gathering in honor of all living Nobel Prize winners, President John Kennedy said,

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Seldom does a day pass without someone telling me they are tired, exhausted, or feel like they need a vacation.  Fatigue seems pervasive, a malady that is faced by some at least occasionally, and by many people as a nearly constant state of being.  One solution might be to get more sleep, but today, I

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There is a reason this blog is called Leadership and Learning – it is because I believe these words belong together, and in fact, if you want to have effective leadership, can’t be separated. We call our business a Leadership Learning Consulting company. We train, coach, and consult with leaders around the world. And in

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Everyone is about to move from the reception to the big business dinner. You are walking with some friends and colleagues, following the crowd as you pass the restrooms. Just ahead of you is one of the executives walking as confidently as they normally do, because they can’t see what you see – that they

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One way to become more effective at anything is to reflect on your progress, your results and your approaches. Another key to building your skills (but also your confidence and awareness), is to see how your results and experiences compare to others. Organizations do it all the time and call it “benchmarking”, yet as individuals,

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People look up to visionaries, they profess to wish they had the skill or gift of seeing and creating a grand picture of the future.  Beyond something people wish they could do or do better, as a leader, it is  imperative that you can see the place you are leading your team  or organization towards.

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Two very different television viewing experiences nearly forty years apart led to this post.  One happened 39 summers ago when I, along with 60 other campers at Camp Brethren Heights in central Michigan, were ushered into a room with a small black and white television to watch history – President Richard Nixon was going to

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There are lots of things people become addicted to. I believe one of the most prevalent isn’t ever mentioned in the same breath with the addictions you thought of as you were reading the first sentence. Under-recognized, unspoken and without a support group, perhaps the biggest addiction that business people have is distractions. For example,

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