For those of you too young to know, Simon Wiesenthal was an Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer until the advent of Hitler. He survived three death camps in a four year period and became a world renowned, or reviled depending on your sympathies, Nazi hunter.
Wiesenthal’s words may have their roots in the Holocaust, but they apply equally well to today’s geopolitical situation, as well as more mundane stuff like work. You might think I’m exaggerating, but if you tone down the power of his words you’ll find a reflection of the office bully; the pointy haired manager; and other situations you face …read more

Most of you probably don’t remember, but a while ago I asked readers for help coming up with a new tag line. That was actually the second time I tried tapping my readership for help.
During the time I’ve been mulling your responses and advice (thanks Dave!) my blog was totally redesigned—no more road.
Today, for whatever reason, the tag has been boiling, instead of at a low simmer on the back burner, and what popped into my head was YOUR leadership breakthrough, which, while not terrible, didn’t really light fires, although it goes well with the new design.
I kept re-reading what …read more

Sometimes we amaze ourselves. Not because someone else says something, but because we revisit something we did a week or a month or longer in the past and we see it from the outside—and we are amazed.
We look at it and marvel; the quality and execution impresses; the inherent value surprises; and we revel in the fact that it is our creation.
It doesn’t matter what it is, big or small; whether it was produced at work or elsewhere; it doesn’t even matter if anyone else will ever see it.
We look and we are amazed.
This happens to me when I read …read more

On September 25, 1957, 300 United States Army troops escorted nine black children to Central High School in Little Rock after unruly white crowds had forced them to withdraw.
In 1976, the shooting of a 13-year-old sparked a children’s uprising against apartheid that spread across the country to Cape Town, where students from a mixed-race high school, Salt River, marched in solidarity with black schoolchildren.
September 15, 2009, Seattle schools plan to lower the passing grade from C to D, partly match the rest of the state’s districts and partly to keep their funding by keeping kids in school.
On September 24, 2009, …read more

Oh for the memory of youth; not memories, but the ability to remember what I’m doing.
Last July I started looking for a new tagline. Even though I’m stuck committed to the blog’s name I want something that reflects my take on leadership as opposed to the generally accepted view.
Like any blogger I asked my then readers what they thought, received some interesting suggestions and promptly forgot about it.
The subject recently came up again, so I looked up the post and here are what I think are the best from those suggestions.
Eric Eggertson, who used to write CommonSensePR, gave me a …read more

I love it when readers call me (866.265.7267), even when the caller is irate, as happened yesterday.
“Sue” called because she was extremely upset that I agreed with Dan Erwin’s comment that he raised his kids using the concept of ‘covenants’ as opposed to ’standards’, because covenants can be renegotiated whereas standards are set.
Sue said that no society could function without some kind of absolute rules, the kind that gave continuity, and that if they changed at everyone’s convenience there would be chaos.
My response was that I disagreed with the absolute rules, but agreed with the second part of her premise.
After …read more

I had (what to me) was amazing news this weekend.
Leadership Turn is listed as one of Strategic Strategist’s 2009 Top Business Blogs. It not only made the list, but is number 16, just two places behind Guy Kawasaki.
I’m unfamiliar with Strategic Strategist and have no idea what, if anything, this means, but still! So I told some friends and my b5 cohorts and received some very nice congratulatory emails telling me that I deserved it, etc. Fun!
But it got me to thinking once again that I just don’t have the ego for the networked, self-promoted, memememe world I live in.
It’s …read more

There are many lessons to be learned from the current economic crisis, but one of the most important is that we the people should stop following and start leading ourselves.
In other words, we each need to take responsibility for our own actions and think critically about the words and actions of those in positional leadership roles.
In business, we need to rid ourselves of the idea that positional leaders don’t need management skills or that managers don’t lead.
Jim Stroup points out in numerous posts that “No one has proven that leadership is different from management, much less that it is a …read more

I received a call from a reader, I’ll call him Doug, (I love calls, you may reach me at 866.335.8054, 9 AM to11 PM Pacific time.) who wanted to know why I kept harping on the need for long-term this and long-term that. He said that he’s 26 and part of “the online generation” and used to “instant gratification.”
We talked for quite awhile and I found him to be intelligent, well-spoken and, in his own way despite what he said, thoughtful—but also impatient.
Influencing others is always stressed as a major trait of leadership—maybe the most important trait. But to lead …read more

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