Category Archives: Leadership
People are not Dogs, nor are they Cogs
Recently a colleague turned my attention to a blog post in the Harvard Business Review blogging area, written by Nilofer Merchant. The title of the blog post was “People are Not Cogs” (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/06/people_are_not_cogs.html). In the blog, Nilofer discussed the resistance … Continue reading
Course Correction
Throughout my blogs I’ve spoken about the need for thoughtful planning. But what should the Musher/Leader do when things just aren’t working out as planned? Mike Tyson has a famous quote that “everyone has a plan ’til they get punched … Continue reading
Planning the Race
Some of you may be aware that this Saturday will mark the beginning of the Ititarod, an 1,150 mile grueling dog-sled race which commemorates the ancient use of dog sleds by Native Indians over the Iditarod trail to move people … Continue reading
Intentionality
In the past several blog posts, I’ve spoken for the need for timely, accurate, and appropriate communication to the team, not only as a matter of operational necessity, but also as an important means of establishing trust and credentialing the … Continue reading
Vision, Geometry, and Leadership
To follow up on my recent blogs on communication and clarity, I thought I would return to the dogsled metaphor to make a finer point. In the dogsled configuration, the dogs are harnessed to the sled, low to the ground … Continue reading
Clarity
Clarity of communication and communication strategy are critical elements in dog sledding. In the Parable of the Musher, the CEO reaches a point in his dog sledding experience where the team must traverse a steep hill: “What I witnessed on … Continue reading
Communications
So much about leadership is driven by the quality of communications at all levels of a business, especially between the leader and the management team. Ironically, people are seldom taught how to manage the quality of their communications. In certain … Continue reading
Organizational Design
I really think that 50% of my secret sauce for successful leadership is in organizational design. In my experience, many CEO’s simply aren’t aware of the negative impact their organization’s design is creating. In many organizations, it’s not clear that … Continue reading
Equanimity
In business, if we are self-aware, we constantly evaluate our interactions with team members in light of what is good for us, for them, and for the team as a whole. Team members look to the Leader to provide both intellectual and emotional guidance. Each team member expects to be treated fairly – there is a sense of equanimity in business relationships that is critical to team success. Continue reading
Finishing “Safely”
Mushers have to be really good planners. They don’t have to know exactly how things are going to work, but they have to have a pretty good idea of how they want to run the race.
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