The Power of the First Impression — Getting Onboarding Right

One of the most important ways you can determine if your organization’s culture is moving in the right direction is to review and adjust your onboarding process. Remember, it is the first major experience your new recruits will have with your organization, and that first impression can make a serious impact. Whenever a new person … Read more

When In Charge, Take Charge — What That Means For Leaders

One of our Big Six Leadership Principles® is “When in charge, take charge.” How does that apply in day-to-day operations? It doesn’t mean you always need to be out front barking orders. Being in charge means accepting the responsibility entrusted to you and acting accordingly. In some cases, taking charge means empowering people. In others, … Read more

A Leader’s Successful Path to Excellence is Never Linear

Organizations and their leaders rarely take a linear path to excellence. Instead, the journey typically will have any number of curves, choke points, and dangerous intersections. As a leader, you must be adaptive to be successful, cutting new paths in order to bring the company back on course and aligned with the organization’s true mission … Read more

Growing Great Teams

Some thoughts on growing great teams and the leadership ideals that can inspire them: One person who embodies the leadership qualities of growing high performing teams that contribute to developing a Level 5 culture is General (retired) Colin Powell. I had the privilege to serve on his personal staff when he was the Chairman of … Read more

Leaders Vs. Teams

In my ongoing multiple series of blogs, I’ve described the importance of developing leaders in your organization, with the goal of reaching Level 5 leadership. However, there’s an important distinction between Level 5 leadership and a Level 5 culture. Just because you have a corps of strong individual leaders, it does not mean that they are … Read more