Widely regarded as the father of the contemporary field of Leadership, Warren Bennis paved the way for those of us who make our living as leadership advisors. Warren would never say this, so I will; he has forgotten more about leadership than most of us will ever know. Put simply, spending an hour with Warren Bennis is like drinking leadership wisdom from a fire hose. At age 19, Warren was the youngest combat infantry officer in the European Theater during World War II, and was awarded both the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After the war, Warren went on to author 30 books, served as an advisor to four different U.S. Presidents, spent time on the faculties of MIT, Harvard, Boston University, INSEAD, the University of Exter (UK), and at age 86 Warren is University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California. My favorite piece of Bennis trivia is that Warren actually knew Albert Einstein. Watch the video, enjoy your time with a living leadership legend, and then please leave a comment and let Warren know what his work has meant to you…
Many people discuss transformational leadership, but few can point to a modern day CEO who is an example of a transformative leader. Douglas R. Conant is the President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, and he epitomizes just such a leader. When Doug took the helm at Campbell’s 10 years ago, he reversed the trend of declining earnings and employee engagement. In 2010, during a down economy, the company posted a 12% increase in earnings on $7.7 Billion in sales, and the storied brand now possesses some of the best employee engagement rankings in the industry. Doug had a similar impact in his previous role as President of Nabisco where the company posted 5 consecutive years of double-digit earnings growth under his leadership. What I most appreciate most about Doug is his passion for those whom he leads. He’s part old-school; still regularly sending hand written thank you notes to employees, and part new-school; equally as comfortable communicating on Twitter (@DougConant). Doug’s new book TouchPoints, co-authored with Mette Norgaard is a must read for leaders. If you do one thing today watch this video and then leave a comment thanking Doug for freely sharing his considerable insights and experiences.
My daughter shared this video with me and I thought it was brilliant - the video explains leadership so vividly and powerfully that you’re not likely to forget what’s being communicated. While it talks about leaders, followers, momentum, the tipping point and other well understood leadership principles, the point that I want you to focus on is the case made that the power of leadership rests not with the leader, but the followers. I discussed this in great length in a previous post: Leadership – It’s About the People. So my questions are these: Are you the kind of leader that inspires and motivates? Are you willing to be edgy in your approach? Do you understand that while leadership may start with you, it’s greatest power is what happens as a result of working with, by and through your followers?
Social media influence; the harsh reality is that you either have it or you don’t. I’m going to tell you the cold hard truth about social media…what you need to know that most people won’t tell you. While anyone can have a social media presence, not everyone possesses social media influence. It’s clear to those in the know that social media is a universe of the haves and have nots. It’s the difference between relevance and irrelevance, visibility and anonymity. You might have something to say, but without influence, nobody will be listening. Put simply, having a social media presence without influence is little more than an exercise in frivolity. In today’s post I’ll share some thoughts on the importance of social media influence in the building of personal and corporate brand equity.
Since the dawn of time leaders have argued about, struggled with and sought after the leadership “x” factor – how to effectively motivate people. While there is much debate over what does or doesn’t motivate people, there is little debate that effective motivation can make a defining difference in your ability to lead change, build cohesive teams, successfully implement strategic vision, and to create a certainty of tactical execution. The video above packs what is perhaps some of the best content I’ve seen on the subject of motivation into a short, powerful and compelling presentation.
Disclaimer: this video has a political slant, but that’s not why I included it in today’s post. Whether you’re republican or democrat, this video should make you cringe…To watch what has happened to the City of Detroit is just plain hard to watch. That said, and regardless of political sentiment, it shows exactly what happens when bad leadership is allowed to flourish. What happened in Detroit is a result of bad political leadership, bad financial leadership, bad corporate leadership, bad academic leadership, bad community leaderhip, bad family leadership, and the list could go on. If you can watch this video and not be absolutely disgusted, you may be part of the apathy that allowed something like this to happen in the first place. Bad Leadership has Consequences.
Effectively managing vendor relationships is critical to the success of any business. I found the above video posted on UberCEOand thought it was brilliant. Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of the client-vendor cramdown will surely relate to this video. The moral of the story is treat your vendors how you wish to be treated…while you may currently have the power to play hard-ball, times change and shifts in the power curve can and do happen. Remember that most people have long memories, so it’s best to keep in mind that “what goes around comes around.”
This video is a perfect example of why I don’t read Newsweek. Newsweek editor Evan Thomas’ characterization of Barack Obama as “sort of god” is not only absurd, but it is exactly the reason why many media outlets have zero credibility with the public. It should come as no great surprise that this interview occurred on MSNBC. Newsweek + MSNBC = garbage in; garbage out.
Xerox understands the value of viral video and social media as clearly evidenced by this brilliantly funny video. The search engines love video, few mediums drive home a messaging point as well as video, and not many things go viral faster than a well produced video. Not only did I appreciate the humor and production quality of the video, but it also gives us pause for thought…Xerox gets it…
Social media influence; the harsh reality is that you either have it or you don’t. I’m going to tell you the cold hard truth about social media…what you need to know that most people won’t tell you. While anyone can have a social media presence, not everyone possesses social media influence. It’s clear to those in the know that social media is a universe of the haves and have nots. It’s the difference between relevance and irrelevance, visibility and anonymity. You might have something to say, but without influence, nobody will be listening. Put simply, having a social media presence without influence is little more than an exercise in frivolity. In today’s post I’ll share some thoughts on the importance of social media influence in the building of personal and corporate brand equity. 