Thought leaders across the web

Do you dress for success? It’s no secret that most people will formulate an opinion of you based on your appearance within minutes of an introduction. But can that short space of time mean the difference between a lucrative career and a low-paying job? Well-Paid and Well-Dressed Do the folks in the suits really make [...]

It’s well-known that busy people get the most done. Their secret is simple: They never stop moving. Of course, sitting still can be a good thing if it involves renewal, reflection, and focused attention (or having meals with the family). But sitting still can be a bad thing if it involves procrastination, indecision, and passivity. [...]

Editor’s note: this blog was co-authored with Tsun-yan Hsieh. Do a quick Google search of any prominent entrepreneur, and you will see at least one story about the role of luck in his or her success or failure. Uncertainty is at the heart of entrepreneurship and business building. Without it, there would not be the [...]

When I first began my career as an executive educator, I challenged my clients to pick one to three behavior patterns for personal improvement. Now I realize that three patterns were too many. The problem was not a lack of motivation or intelligence — the problem was that they were just too busy. I teach [...]

It’s hard to focus on your work when your child is hallucinating. One of the least discussed yet quite salient issues for American business in this year of health care reform is an important yet hidden cost associated with mental illness: the drain on productive work endured by family members struggling to support loved ones [...]

This week’s question for Ask the Coach: What can I do to build my confidence in my capabilities as a leader? You won’t get to the top without self-confidence; to build it, you have to believe in yourself. Don’t worry about being perfect — put up a brave front and do the best you can. [...]

What kind of leadership do we need now? This was the question I asked last week at the beginning of a day-long workshop attended by a group of senior-level women at a major technology firm headquartered on the west coast of the US. And I’ve been asking this question of thousands of other business professionals [...]

I just returned from Toronto where I spent some time in the hands of an amazing corps of health care professionals at Medcan, North America’s biggest preventive health clinic. I heard more than one story of how Medcan’s preventive assessments saved lives — and enormous medical cost. Medcan’s CEO, Shaun Francis, is an alumnus of [...]

A distinguished woman rose to speak in the front of a room of 40 fellow employees during a Total Leadership workshop I was conducting earlier this week at a large pharmaceutical company’s headquarters. “Joyous laughter — this is the sound I hear throughout the home I have built and now maintain for mentally ill women [...]

Steve Lopez’s magnificent story (a book and now a movie) about his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers — the homeless cellist stricken with schizophrenia — provides powerful lessons about leading change that instruct and inspire. As I read the story, I found myself coming back to three themes that resonated with my own teaching on creating [...]