We often generalize leadership and skills to be the same traits needed all the time and everywhere by all leaders. Is leadership really that simple? Let’s look at different domains of leadership and the different skills that are needed in each. Leading Yourself To effectively lead yourself, useful skills are, for example: physical fitness decision-making …

As a consultant, your perception of project “success” is the basis from which your client and you conclude, for example, whether the project is of high quality, that money paid to you was well spent, that you did a good job as a consultant, and whether you might be hired again (if you are an …

Understanding a Board’s System: Key of Improving Recent Breakthrough in Development: Systems Thinking One of the recent breakthroughs in organizational and management development is the ability to understand organizations and each of the various functions in them as a system. Each of the functions, such as Boards, planning, leadership, management, marketing, sales and finances is …

What Is an Organic Approach? Organization and management sciences today are placing a great deal of attention to naturalistic approaches to development. One of the most prominent approaches is called “self-organizing” systems. These are systems that develop primarily according to certain values, rather than according to specific procedures. Biological systems (people, plants, animals, etc.) are …

While reading Deepak Chopra’s book Creating Affluence: The A-Z Steps to a Richer Life, I thought it would be fun to write a series of blog posts using the same type of approach. Each week I’ll share the A-Z inspirations for bringing your spirituality to work. When I thought of what “A” would be many …

One of the nice things about writing a blog is getting comments. And now that the Free Management Library blogs are attracting more than 10,000 readers each week (wow!), we’re glad to hear what readers are thinking. Here are two particularly interesting recent comments: On whether the “social” in social enterprise is redundant, Andy Horsnell …

Does this bird look familiar? If not, let me introduce you to “Ono the Ostrich,” the long-time official mascot of my Crisis Manager email newsletter. Now, I’ve launched The Ono Awards to honor those whose public statements embody the image displayed by Ono. And the winner of the first Ono Award is…..here. Readers are encouraged …

Mark’s expertise spans business strategy, strategic decision making, and organizational design and change management. Mark advises leaders and teams on the design of innovative work systems, as well as the development and implementation of organizational measurement systems. Mark’s distinctive approach includes strategic thinking tools and templates useful in determining strategic direction and aligning organizational capabilities …

Many of my coaching clients struggle to maintain work-life balance. With all of their family and work demands they feel out of equilibrium. One client shared this metaphor about balance that I trust will help you look at your work-life balance in a different way. She views life balance as a teeter totter – one …

Being an HR professional seems to bring a number of questions from friends, family, and new acquaintances. These questions cover the gamut of all things that fall in the broad spectrum of HR responsibilities and often involve actual scenarios from workplace situations in which the asker is questioning the handling of the situation by the HR department or manager involved within. A common response to those specific questions is, "well, it depends