When Leaders Fail

Contrary to much of the contemporary leadership literature, most leadership failures are not missing the objective, falling short of the goal, making a bad decision, or choosing a poor strategy. These are all business failures—and they do matter. But since leadership is about the heart, then leadership failures are, in fact, losing the heart or…

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What Matters in Leadership?

Many will tell us that leadership is all about achieving the objective, accomplishing the goal, reaching the summit. But, I think this kind of thinking and writing confuses what leadership is and what it’s about. The real test of leadership, the real measure of success is positive impact on others and not improving the balance…

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Ambition—Good or Bad

By Richard Weidner, Legacy Ventures Network (TriVenture Partner) “Ambition is that grit in the soul which creates disenchantment with what is and puts the dare in dreams.” That’s one of my favorite quotes from Max Lucado. It was brought to mind when I was reading about the Tower of Babel in Genesis. The self-centered ambition…

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15 Things About True Leaders

15 THINGS ABOUT TRUE LEADERS It’s true that anyone can claim they are a leader. Many bosses do but are not. Many managers do but are not. Many politicians do but are not. Here’s a list of things true leaders do that you can use to check the validity of your own claims. Leaders care…

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Questions for Remote Leadership

Even when the pandemic has passed, the new shape of work will remain. Companies and teams will operate in three ways—fully in person (rare), fully remote (increasingly common), and a hybrid of the two (which we expect to be the dominant form of the future). In a recent course offering, Leading a Remote Workforce (coming…

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Leadership is Not Natural

The age old question is, “Are leaders made or born?” Of course, the basic answer is usually, “Both.” I’ve answered it that way for years but now, I’m not so sure anymore. I’m beginning to think that we are confusing charisma (magnetism) with leadership.  Charisma is born in, natural, and, frankly. not especially developable. Leadership…

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ENOUGH LEADERS?

With all the talk, books, and training around leadership, I’d expect to see a plethora of truly excellent, life-impacting leaders in the world (or at least in my circles). Alas! Not so much. I hear lots of leadership language. I hear lots of leadership words. But what I see is simply boss behavior, boss character,…

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Are You a Leader Who Develops Leaders?

In my career, one of my proudest moments has always been when someone from my team is tapped for a bigger role, often outside of my sphere. I’ve heard people say, “How can you stand to lose her?” or “Wow, what a loss?” And truthfully, it does “hurt” the team for a bit but in…

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Think Time (Part 7)

This final installment addresses the question of how to turn annual intentions (Parts 5-6) into actions. We all know what the Road to Hell is paved with so, let’s move to actually getting things done! For your annual priorities (business and/or personal), I’ve seen 4 very useful approaches and tools. They are not mutually exclusive…

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