Leading from the Front

I’d like to introduce today’s guest blogger, my son-in-law Danny McCarthy. He recently graduated from Officer Candidate School and experienced some great leadership opportunities. Of course, I did what any normal mother-in-law would do and asked him to blog about the leadership lessons he learned while there! (more…)

Pride. Some view it as arrogance, while others see it as confidence. Some say it’s a necessary leadership trait, while others believe it’s a characteristic we can all do without.

My question is, “What impact does pride have when it comes to our leadership walk?”

Pride keeps us from being our authentic selves. When we are concerned with projecting or protecting our pride, we put up a barrier between us and others so they can’t get too close or see the real us. Authenticity is one of – if not the – most appealing traits of a leader. Pride prevents us from being authentic, and your team knows when you’re being authentic. (more…)

How humble is too humble? How much encouragement is too much, and can you actually be too accommodating as a leader?

My career has allowed me to work and consult within a lot of companies and with a lot of leaders. Most of the time I’m consulting on how to improve employee engagement by creating a culture of development, encouragement, and servant mindedness. However, there are times where I run into a company culture or a leader that exaggerates and over embellishes these very talents many are trying to acquire.

Like most things in life, too much of one thing leads to a lopsided outcome. You might find this post a bit awkward, but I feel compelled to address it. This past month I’ve been exposed to too much humility, encouragement, and accommodation within company walls. How can this be? Seriously, even putting those words on paper makes me feel like Satan himself! How in the world can these great attributes that we usually strive to acquire cause havoc? Three examples: (more…)