July, 2012

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25 Great Leadership Development Quotes

Dan McCarthy

There are a gazillion sites and books full of leadership quotes, so I’ve never been too inspired to duplicate what’s already out there. However, I did enjoy combing through all of those sites and picking out what I thought to be the 25 best leadership development quotes. Use these to introduce your next leadership development program, build the business case for leadership development, inspire your coaching clients, motivate your employees, or just inspire yourself to develop further as a leader

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Top Ten Marks of Lousy Leaders

Leadership Freak

Image source David Lewis, co-author of The Pin Drop Principle, told me he was exposed to poor leadership when he was in his early twenties. “Back then everything was a race and all that mattered was the numbers. In that context customers are statistics.” Lewis explained. It’s been over a month since our conversation and [.].

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Five Keys to Success as the Rate of Change Accelerates

Kevin Eikenberry

For hundreds of years, people have felt the world was changing faster and faster. You can find writing from two hundred years ago lamenting the rate of change that you would believe was written yesterday, yet with the perspective of history, there is no question that the rate of change today, in nearly any category, [.].

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Shirzad Chamine | What We Get Wrong About Improving Performance

Tanveer Nasser

Why do most efforts to improve team or individual performance fall apart within a short period of time? Why is it that our feelings of accomplishment diminish so quickly after we achieve a goal or target? These questions are just some of the topics I discuss with Stanford professor and author Shirzad Chamine in this episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”.

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How to Make The Best Benefits Decisions for 2025's Workforce: An HR and Total Rewards Guide

Speaker: Kaitlin Ruby Carroll

Retaining top talent in 2025 means rethinking benefits. In a competitive job market, fertility benefits are more than just offerings - they are a commitment to your team’s well-being. Gain critical insights into the latest fertility benefits strategies that can help position your organization as an industry leader. Our expert will explore the unique advantages and challenges of each model, share success stories from top organizations, and offer practical strategies to make benefits decisions tha

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The Stupidity and Strength of Youth

Leadership Freak

Young leaders focus on themselves too much. They mistakenly believe success depends on them rather than others. They think about their own potential and neglect the potential of others. Small dreams are reached alone. Great dreams require others. Young leaders limit themselves by sinking into themselves. Shifting from success to significance makes great dreams possible. [.].

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The Only Reason You Are Here

Leadership Freak

The simple, uncomplicated principle of success is you are here to serve. The better you serve – the more value you add – the more success you’ll enjoy. Reject distractions. Anything that requires your attention and doesn’t serve people is a distraction. Stop the irrelevant. Activities that don’t directly or indirectly serve people are irrelevant. [.].

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How to Destroy Teams and Become Losers

Leadership Freak

Image source Terrible teams are easy; great teams rare. Great teams do two things. First, people working together achieve things individuals can’t; they achieve more together. Second, Teams that work – work at working together. Performance: I was a good player on my high school basketball team, not great. We always competed with each other [.].

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The Secret to Creating Happiness

Leadership Freak

Happiness is more a function of attitude than environment. People in the same environment may be happy or sad depending on their attitude. Happiness within organizations: Commitment is fundamental to happiness. Committed people are happier than uncommitted. Committed people work to make things work. Uncommitted people stand aloof, find fault, and inevitably grow unhappy.

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Something Harder than Believing in Yourself

Leadership Freak

If you think believing in yourself is hard, try believing in others. Every leadership development tool, technique, method, and strategy fades in comparison to the power of belief. Everyone needs someone who believes in them; young leaders need it the most. The people who change us the most believe in us the most. The first [.].

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16 Ways to Create Good Fortune

Leadership Freak

Ask any successful person how they achieved success and many will mention good fortune. Some will say, “I was lucky.” For instance: Jay Elliot told me he met Steve Jobs in the waiting area of a restaurant after leaving Intel for a job at a start-up. The start-up failed. Jay had no job. Andy Grove, [.].

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The Diversity Reckoning: Can HR Survive Without New Perspectives?

Speaker: Jeremy York

2024 has tested every organization, and 2025 promises no less - the warning signs are everywhere. If you’re relying on superficial approaches to diversity, you might find yourself scrambling to catch up. Thought diversity - the fuel for new ideas, fresh perspectives, and disruptive innovation - is more than a buzzword. It's a survival strategy. And if you’re not building it into your workplace culture right now , you’re heading for trouble.

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Tackling Armchair Quarterbacks

Leadership Freak

Receiving criticism indicates you’re doing something. Get used to it. Armchair quarterbacks know “what should have been done” and it’s hard to bear. Armchair quarterbacks know what you should have done and how you should have done it. Furthermore, they are glad to share their wisdom and insights with sympathetic listeners but they won’t share [.].

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When Talent Defeats

Leadership Freak

Super stars aren’t the answer they’re the problem. Isn’t it thrilling when high performers join your organization? Finally, someone can bring home the bacon like no one else. Wrong! Super stars who believe they save the day are selfish hogs. Organizations don’t need swine they need strong teams that deliver results together. Individual contributors – [.].

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Talent is Never Enough

Leadership Freak

Adams and Jefferson, Founding Fathers of the United States, didn’t always like each other. Toward the end of their lives they came to appreciate and respect each other but for much of their political careers they were rivals. Jefferson’s skilled compromising skills offended a dogmatic Adams, for example. They were at odds but they invested [.].

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Facing the Fires of Disagreement, Improvement and Destructive Criticism

Leadership Freak

Destructive critics claim the moral high ground but their message is simple, do what I want. They pretend they want what’s best for others while they pursue what’s best for them. Constructive critics want what’s best for others. In the past, friends told me my New York style sarcasm wasn’t always effective. A friend said, [.].

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Recognition Powers High-Performance — If You Do it Right

Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg

Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.

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Slackers, Lions, and Leadership

Leadership Freak

Talking without action is meaningless babble. Successful leaders connect with doers. “Do” your way out of problems, challenges, and adversity. Talking helps but only when it focuses on effective, efficient action. An ancient proverb: “The slacker says there’s a lion in the road.” Slackers see lions everywhere. Spotting slackers: Slackers are great talkers.

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Taking Criticism Like a Pro

Leadership Freak

This question arrived from a reader: “My boss says I need to get better at taking criticism.” Confidence when criticized: Confidence is a product of knowing what to do next. Close your eyes and imagine your boss giving you negative feedback. Get deep into those negative feelings. Now bring your best self to the exchange; [.].

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Fitting In AND Standing Out

Leadership Freak

When I was young fitting in meant becoming what others expected. Now I know, fitting in requires knowing yourself not losing yourself. Leaders and managers who help people fit in create dynamic organizations. But pressure to fit in from immature leaders prevents people from standing out. In those organizations, stand out and you’re out. Organizations [.].

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Lessons from the End of the Rope

Leadership Freak

Your failure-to-success journey is the most interesting thing about you. All successful leaders stumble, fall, and climb out of the ash heap only to be better for it. Flaunt it; don’t hide it. Facades cripple leadership. Success coupled with frailty is beautifully inviting. Your transformations represent your greatest ability to transform others. Don’t tell me about [.].

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HR Meets AI: The New Way of Keeping Large Workforces Connected and Engaged

Speaker: Miriam Connaughton and Donald Knight

As organizations scale, keeping employees connected, engaged, and productive can seem like a monumental task. But what if AI could help you do all of this and more? AI has the power to help, but the key is implementing it in a way that enhances, rather than replaces, human connection. Join us for an exploration into how industry trailblazers are using AI to transform employee experience at scale while addressing both the potential and the pitfalls.

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Pushing Through without Pushing Away

Leadership Freak

Challenge the comfortable status quo and others resist. However, resistance tests new ideas; it’s healthy. You need to demonstrate and defend their worth. It takes courage to push through and wisdom to push back without pushing away. Insecure leaders give in and go along when they experience push back. Unwise leaders create either/or situations; either [.].

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Giving Criticism Like a Pro

Leadership Freak

Stop talking if you’re a critical boss. You may say, “I’m just being helpful.” Unrequested criticism is like a drive-by shooting – there’s no responsibility for positive outcomes. It’s sleazy and easy. After writing, “Taking Criticism Like a Pro” a reader asks, “How about teaching bosses how to give criticism like a pro?” 10 Ways [.].

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Damn that Hurts…

Leadership Freak

The trouble with pain is ignoring it. Toothaches begin as dull twinges. Tumors are coughs. Before long, fillings are root canals and tumors are death. Pain is a slow sunrise, quiet. But, noon always comes. Listen to pain in the morning; don’t wait for noon. Courage: Life without pain is death. Leaders courageously listen for [.].

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Women Don’t Take Risks Like Men

Leadership Freak

They determined the single most important thing about leadership is the ability to take risks. If you can’t take risks you can’t lead. What happened next angered Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices. The group of high-level leaders from around the world said women don’t take risks. Bold but different: Nelson composed a [.].

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The Upskilling Advantage: Transforming Your Workforce For Future Growth

Speaker: Brian Richardson

With a staggering 92% of CEOs prioritizing skill development, and 84% struggling with transformation, mastering upskilling is now more critical than ever. Drawing on extensive research and collaboration with hundreds of leading organizations, discover key hurdles and innovative best practices in workforce upskilling. You'll walk away with a deep understanding of how to build a culture of continuous learning, expert insights into assessing the current skills of your employees, and a strategic too

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Creating a Balanced Reading Diet

Kevin Eikenberry

Since at least 1894, the US Department of Agriculture has created guidelines and models for creating a balanced diet. With each iteration of their recommendations the dietary experts try to give us an easy-to-use guideline for eating in a healthy and well balanced way. This is a useful practice and one worth emulating for other [.].

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Which Habit is For You?

Kevin Eikenberry

As you likely have heard, Stephen R. Covey, author of many bestselling books, most notably The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People died Monday at age 79 (here is the CNN story). Covey was an author, speaker, humanitarian, business person and much more. In 1996 he was named by Time Magazine as one of the [.].

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Are You a Courageous Leader?

Kevin Eikenberry

Courage is an attribute usually attributed to very ill people and people in extreme danger. I mean, we need courage as we navigate a minefield, look danger in the face, or stare down a dire diagnosis for our future. Courage isn’t usually thought of as a trait we need to navigate cubicles, look in the [.].

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The Power of Talent – a Leadership Lesson from Babe Ruth

Kevin Eikenberry

In 1919 the Boston Red Sox had a star pitcher who also had home run power like no one had ever seen. He helped them win 3 world championships. His name was Babe Ruth. At that time they were a powerhouse in baseball – winning 5 of the first 15 World Series match-ups. In 1920 [.].

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Mastering Remote Onboarding: Proven Strategies for Seamless New Hire Integration

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

Join this brand new webinar with Tim Buteyn to learn how you can master the art of remote onboarding! By the end of this session, you'll understand how to: Craft a Tailored Onboarding Checklist 📝 Develop a comprehensive, customized checklist that ensures every new hire has a smooth transition into your company, no matter where they are in the world.

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Solving Presentation Hell

Leadership Freak

How many mind numbing – content rich – presentations have you endured? Content creates boredom; it doesn’t solve it. Boredom is directly proportional to the quantity of poorly delivered content. More content equals more boredom. Someone wake me when it’s over! Content without great delivery is presentation hell! Great deliver begins with the audience.

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The Best Leaders Know Self-Esteem is Scarce

Kevin Eikenberry

A key concept in economics is scarcity. In economic terms, it is when people have unlimited wants but resources are limited. If you look up scarcity in the dictionary, you will find a similar idea: 1. insufficiency or shortness of supply; dearth. 2. rarity; infrequency. (Source: Dictionary.com) In practice, when things are scarce, several things [.].

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Turning Creative Sparks into an Innovative Fire

Kevin Eikenberry

During a recent guest conversation for members of our Remarkable Leadership Learning System, creativity expert Josh Linkner said “an idea is a like a spark.” I’m sure that isn’t the first time I’ve heard that metaphor, but it struck me in a new way. Like you, I’ve experienced sparks, and while they can inadvertently start [.].

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Overcoming the Futility of Doing the Next Thing

Leadership Freak

Repeating things without improving them means you’re dead in the water, stuck in the muck, dying on the vine. Don’t simply do the next thing; make it better. Leading isn’t repeating. Your calendar includes reoccurring things like, performance reviews, company meetings, client calls, and staff development, to name a few. Don’t repeat, improve. But isn’t improvement hard?

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How To Empower Your Workforce With Modern Fertility Benefits

Speaker: Andrea Wuchiski

In an era where a workforce spans multiple generations, HR managers and Total Rewards leaders face the unique challenge of designing benefits packages that cater to diverse employee needs. This session will delve into how comprehensive fertility benefits can bridge generational gaps, support employees’ health, and enhance workplace satisfaction. Join us for an insightful session that highlights the strategic importance of fertility benefits in today’s competitive job market.