Reflections on Leadership Leadership Is Too Important to Be an A-hole. Leadership Drift This Week Leadership Is Too Important to Be an A-hole Language warning: I’m using a few stronger words than usual in this edition. Not to be pedantic, but if a commander-in-chief muses that “taking out” a couple of major American cities is a “small price to pay” for keeping the country safe, they're objectively not keeping the country safe. It’s easy to ignore imbecilic decrees; there seems to be an...

Reflections on Leadership Strengthening Leadership Without Becoming a Jerk Leadership Drift This Week Strengthening Leadership Without Becoming a Jerk Plenty of leaders aren't particularly difficult to work with until something changes. The pressure increases. The stakes get higher. Decisions that used to affect only them now affect other people. Time gets short. Something isn't working, and eventually the leader decides there isn't time to talk about it anymore. So they start telling instead...

Reflections on Leadership When Your Values Cost You Something Leadership Drift This Week When Your Values Cost You Something Most leaders can tell you what they believe. They can point to their values on a wall, in an employee handbook, or in a speech to the organization. But if you don’t responsibly stand up for those values when things get difficult, do you really have them? Good values and ethics are table stakes. It’s easy to have principles when they are convenient. It is considerably...