Leadership

“Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.” Charles Swindoll

"Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.”  Alexander Graham Bell 

“Actually, failure is simply feedback, and it is one of the primary paths to growth because consequences are felt, rather than avoided.”  Benjamin P. Hardy

Things to Think About - I’m not telling you it will be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it

I would like to talk about a topic that is very close to my heart, and is, in my opinion, very often depressed in the boardrooms – “street smart leadership”. Or, how my father would put it, “idiots will always find a way to make things complicated”.

This will be the first of a series of three articles where I will discuss the various concepts of leadership and attempt to bring some clarification on that very elusive subject, sometimes the “flavor of the month” word called leadership.

True or false: A real leader must always appear to be the smartest and the most powerful person in the room.

If this doesn’t sound like a silly question you really need to read today’s column.

I have written a lot about women leaders over the years. I have had first-hand experience with women as leaders since childhood—my mother was an executive, so was my wife and, for more than twenty-five years, I have been an advisor to women executives in Asia, America, and Europe.

Being a leader is a complex, demanding and paradoxical undertaking. Having the desire, though, to be a good leader—one who consistently brings out the best in others—that’s even more complex, demanding and paradoxical.

Have you ever been as busy as you have been lately? Chances are, if you are like most of us, you just rolled your eyes and thought, “You must be kidding!