“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” — Stephen R. Covey There’s a big difference between hearing your customers and actually listening to them. Hearing tells you what they said. Listening helps you understand what they’re really trying to...
A popular story online claims that when wolves travel, the strongest wolf walks at the back, quietly protecting the pack. It is a wonderful leadership lesson. It is also apparently not how wolves actually work. Real wolf packs are less like corporate hierarchies and more like families. The...
"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." — Ecclesiastes 3:1 Leadership is often taught as a destination, a summit you climb, a title you earn, a position you defend. But anyone who has led people for more than a few...
When we think about a healthy company culture, we often return to one of psychology’s most useful ideas: Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Most of us have seen Maslow’s pyramid. We can also use it as a practical leadership tool for understanding what helps...
Artificial intelligence is changing how quickly companies can create content, analyze customer behavior, personalize communication, and bring ideas to market. But AI has not changed the fundamental reason people become loyal to a brand. People do not fall in love with efficiency. They fall in love with...
Over the years, many CEOs have spent time with me because they wanted to become better writers. Yup, they wanted to communicate more clearly and reach more people. They already had valuable ideas, strong opinions, and years of experience. What they often lacked was the...
People follow leaders who help them become better. The leaders people remember are the ones who bring something out of them. They create trust, dignity, clarity, and meaning. They help people feel stronger, safer, more capable, and more connected to work. In organizations, this matters more than...
“And so, taking the long way home through the market, I slow my pace down. It doesn't come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls...
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, I have been thinking about what its history can teach us about leadership. America began with questions. Why must things remain the way they are? Could people govern themselves? Could a new kind of country be created? The founders did...
Somewhere along the way, kindness got a bad reputation in leadership. It became confused with weakness. With softness. By avoiding hard conversations. Letting people do whatever they want while everyone sits in a circle sharing feelings and pretending the quarterly numbers are just a social construct. That is not kindness. That...