Don’t we need leaders rather than managers? It is a question that has been posed for years. I’ve been asked this question hundreds of times. It’s an understandable question, but the wrong one. Prior to 1977, no one would have asked this question until Harvard Business School professor Abraham Zaleznik published the article “Managers and Leaders:
No one will argue that uncertainty is real. The future is made up of a vast number of events that might occur, or not. Hence, uncertainty. This reality is why it is difficult to make predictions.Two Types of UncertaintyBut uncertainty isn’t just reality, it is also a state of mind. When we don’t know what
No one wants a micromanager.I’ve talked to hundreds of leaders and asked thousands of people over the years, and I’ve never heard anyone say, “I wish my boss would watch me more closely.”And honestly, most leaders don’t want to be micromanagers either.Yet almost everyone has experienced it.What’s especially interesting is this: you would think a
For years, leaders have proudly talked about having an “open door policy.” The idea sounds great. Be approachable. Be available. Encourage communication. Create trust. And to be clear, I believe those intentions matter. But I also believe many leaders never stop to consider the unintended consequences of an open door policy. In fact, what’s meant to create connection and
Organizations do this every day.They take their best mechanic and make them a maintenance supervisor.They take their top salesperson and make them a sales leader.It feels logical. It feels fair. It even feels like a reward.And sometimes—it works.But other times? It crashes and burns. Not just for the individual, but for their team and the
Most would say that information helps us make decisions. Since we live in a time where information is almost free, and we have more of it than ever, you would then think that decisions would be easier and more reliable than ever… But most would also agree that isn’t necessarily the case. Since we could say that
Much has been written about measuring the ROI of leadership development. While it is important to find quantitative ways to measure things, those measures are often tricky and time consuming to create for leadership development efforts. That’s why we need to consider observational measures too. Ultimately, your leadership develop efforts are working if you are
Training isn’t dead, but it isn’t healthy either. You might be surprised to read that from someone who has designed and delivered training for most of his professional career. The health of training isn’t really a question or the problem. The problem is the way we view, design, and use training in our organizations. Training can
Why don’t we ask for help—even when we know we should?You’ve been there. I know I have.You’re stuck on something. You’re thinking it through. And at some point, the thought crosses your mind:“I should probably ask someone.”But you don’t.So let me ask you two questions:Why didn’t you ask?And how often does that happen?If we’re honest,
According to Training Magazine’s Training Industry Report, total training expenditures in the U.S. from 2024-2025 were $102.8 billion. Translation? We invest a lot of time and money into teaching people new skills. And we want a return on those investments. Of all the factors that impact the effectiveness of that skill-transfer, perhaps the biggest gap isn’t what
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