Book notes from the most fascinating and scary book of 2015. “Future Crimes is a risk compendium for the Information Age…. Exhaustively researched…. Fascinating…. Thrilling to read”
— San Francisco Chronicle

Be excited for the conversation you will have with your people. Questions will keep your leadership accountable. It is not a challenge to your authority. Good leadership isn't telling people what to do, rather working with others for a common goal. Be someone that is easy to approach. 

Learn to say no with confidence and grace. Say no with conviction to people, situations, opportunities that do not move you to a desired set of objectives. A "no” will help guard you against distraction and guide you to purposeful action.

Beware: This will be controversial. Parents and young athletes are picking one sport, all year around, way too early and way too often with hopes of increasing future success. This article will discuss the dangers of specializing in sports, the reasons people do it, and when it is the appropriate time to specialize. 

You may do everything right. Yet you will still inevitably face crisis. It may happen directly to you or to your organization. How do you handle crisis? How do you prepare for it?  The way you respond to crisis will always determine the quality of recovery. 

Leaders must define reality, create urgency, and guide teams in a direction. But leaders must also say, “thank you.” They must continually express gratitude to those who are serving alongside them, who are working hard to advance the mission. Without thankfulness, the team culture grows cold and people can feel used. Surely financial support is one way to express appreciation, but here are five other ways to say “thank you”:

The doors of Pixar are thrown open in this book. You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged. Having a finite list of problems is much better than having an illogical feeling that everything is wrong. Easy isn't the goal. Quality is the goal. Click below to read more of the book notes of this fascinating book. 

“Just might be the best business book ever written.”—Forbes

Email can actually provide some great opportunities to communicate with people that we may not have any other way to communicate with. It saves us from having lengthy meetings and it helps us send quick messages to anyone around the world. Yet, it seems like almost everyone is overwhelmed by it. Click to read more...

What is the best way to ease someone's pain and suffering? Empathy is feeling with People. It is a deep connection. It is something that most wish to be and yet none rarely practice. It sees life with a different lens. It is walking in someone else's shoes for a while.  Yet, it is often confused with Sympathy. Click for more...

I constantly need a reminder of how important my role as a leader is. The words I choose to use have great power and can lift someone up or tear someone down in just one sentence. The list below is a list of phrases that every leader needs to remind themselves to say often to those they lead.

The question is usually how they can continue to be where they don’t support the vision and direction of their boss. They want my advice on how to responding during this season.

This situation is obviously not unique and happens frequently in all organizations. I don’t believe all hope is lost during times like this. An individual can continue to grow even with a leader he or she cannot respect — sometimes even more.