There’s a lot you can learn about being a good leader by learning to be a good follower. Good followers support the leader when they’re going the right direction and doing the right things. Good followers also have the courage to speak up when things aren’t right. Barbara Kellerman, a leadership lecturer at Harvard University, …
Author: John Stevenson
How can I help?
“How can I help?” is one of my favorite questions, for any occasion. And it’s the only question that truly matters. It’s an earnest, honest and active question that puts you in the right frame of mind for: Discovery – what are the problems at hand and what’s really needed? Design – what’s the right …
Encouraging nonconformity
In general, we are taught to fit in, agree with others and go along with the crowd – to conform. But there is a dangerous flipside to conformity: disengagement, lower output and lack of invention. There are some natural reasons for conformity. We bow to social pressure. We become comfortable with the status quo. We …
The 10 commandments of emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand your emotions and the emotions of those around you. When you can recognize them and control them, you can use them to calm, connect and influence. But how do you put that into practice? Justin Bariso, author of “EQ, Applied: The Real World Guide to Emotional Intelligence” has created a …
How to hire a good person
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group which controls more than 400 companies, is famous for his honesty, audacity and approachability. And when you see him interviewed on TV or in print, he truly seems like the nicest billionaire you could ever meet. Not surprisingly, Branson is the first to admit that his success has …
How to speak up
see this website levitra Speaking up can be difficult especially if you are shy, unsure of yourself, or come from a family or culture where it is inappropriate to speak up. When we don’t speak up we can feel frustrated, marginalized and underappreciated. But there is hope for the assertively challenged among us. Overcoming fears …
The best way to handle mistakes
Customers and clients will get upset, impatient, and sometimes downright rude when something goes wrong. It’s stressful. It’s natural to get defensive. And it’s easy to say the wrong thing. Starbucks has a simple method for handling customers when they get upset. The company has even created the perfect acronym for making it easy to …
How to get more grit
Persistence beats smarts. Desire precedes skills. And grit is the magical combination of both. Turns out grit is also the number one predictor of success among high-performing individuals and groups. Grit is the perseverance and passion for long-term goals. It’s that spark within all of us that compels us to keep learning, practicing and building new …
Be the beginner
When looking for a solution to a thorny problem, it’s easy to get stuck in conventional wisdom. We tend to stick to linear thinking and well-worn paths of ideation. We brainstorm, we create long lists of possibilities and then we castoff the least likely ones. Mickey McManus, AutoDesk research fellow and Chairman of Maya Design, …
Life moves pretty fast
“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is one of the most popular and quotable movies of all time. It’s also one of the most inspirational. In this 1986 comedy, a bright, quirky teenager (Ferris, played by Matthew Broderick) cuts school and leads his friends on a day of adventure in downtown Chicago. They attend a Cubs game, …