Most organizations are interested in developing an ethical workforce for a wide variety of reasons – from basic compliance concerns to performance issues. In a recent issue of Harvard Business Review, an article suggests that our development as ethical leaders is a lifelong evolution. Organizations can be very intentional about fostering that continuing development in a … [Read more...] about Creating Your Ethical Laboratory
Decision Making
Hail Knowledge and Reason!
Despite the real problems and challenges of our current day - which must be addressed - it can be helpful to take a long view of human progress. When we do this, as Steven Pinker does in his book, Enlightenment Now, we can see that amazing progress has been made in the world. In a broad set of categories including life expectancy, health, peace, knowledge, happiness, … [Read more...] about Hail Knowledge and Reason!
Good and Great
“Good is the enemy of great” Jim Collins famously wrote in his superb book, Good to Great. Collins points out that it is so easy to settle for “good,” that many people and organizations never become “great.” Collins makes an excellent point, but the relationship between “good” and “great” is actually more complex. Consider the personalities of the Perfectionist and the … [Read more...] about Good and Great
Leading with an Open Mind
How open minded are you, really? This is a question I have been asking myself since reading an interview with Adam Grant about his newest book, Think Again. In his interview with Inc. magazine, Grant explains that most of us spend our time in one of three different mind-sets: *Preacher Mode: Persuading others to your point of view. *Prosecutor Mode: Trying to prove … [Read more...] about Leading with an Open Mind
Give Me Some Slack!
Recently, I was teaching a group of nonprofit executives about Almost Impossible Goals and Innovation. One of them said “How am I supposed to get staff to spend time on this when they are already booked 100% on other things they are doing?” The answer, of course, is that you need to give people time away from their current projects to do this. And it is not a popular … [Read more...] about Give Me Some Slack!