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Creating a Leadership Movement

September 30, 2011 in Leadership, Rants with 21 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Every so often a time arrives where society reaches a crossroads – where the situation and/or circumstance so obviously demands change that a populist mandate – a “movement” takes place. I would submit that we find ourselves a just such a crossroads today. We are in a crisis of leadership, and our world is suffering greatly at the hands of people who confuse their desire for an ego boost, their quest for power, and their thirst for greed with leadership. It’s time to say enough is enough – it’s time for a leadership movement.

This is a preview of Creating a Leadership Movement. Read the full post (704 words, 1 image, estimated 2:49 mins reading time)


 

Training Isn’t Dead – But it Should Be

September 29, 2011 in Leadership, Rants, Talent Management, Uncategorized with 75 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

In the text that follows I’m going to poke holes in a process generally accepted as productive, when it rarely is. I’ll likely take some heat over this, and while this post works off some broad generalizations, in my experience having worked with literally thousands of leaders, they are largely true. More than $60 Billion dollars is spent each year in the U.S. on employee training. More than 25% of those dollars are spent on “Leadership Training.” Here’s the thing – when it comes to leadership, the training industry has been broken for years. You don’t train leaders you develop them – a subtle yet important distinction lost on many. Leadership training is alive and well, but it should have died long, long ago…

This is a preview of Training Isn’t Dead – But it Should Be. Read the full post (557 words, 1 image, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)


 

Leadership is NOT Dodgeball

September 19, 2011 in Communications, Crisis Management, Leadership, Rants with 14 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Leadership today seems to be all too often confused with playing a game of dodgeball. It’s as if many leaders show-up for work each day with a freshly applied coat of Teflon, ready to duck and dodge anything that comes their way. Let me be clear – I appreciate savvy and finesse as much as the next person, but not as a substitute for courage. We have too many people in leadership positions who can’t or won’t accept responsibility for anything. Put simply, leadership is about accountability, and not only being willing to take the hit, but also being capable of surviving the hit. Leadership IS ownership…

This is a preview of Leadership is NOT Dodgeball. Read the full post (554 words, 1 image, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)


 

Workplace Gossip

September 1, 2011 in Communications, Leadership, Rants with 33 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

No GossipAllowing gossip in the workplace is like encouraging your employees to swim with sharks. Let me cut right to the chase – real leaders don’t participate in gossip, and likewise they don’t tolerate gossip from others. Gossip destroys trust, undermines credibility, and is one of the greatest adversaries of a healthy corporate culture.  While the emotional distress associated with gossip can be dealt with fairly easily, the political discord that can erupt in an organization can be nothing short of disastrous. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts on how to control gossip in the workplace…

This is a preview of Workplace Gossip. Read the full post (911 words, 1 image, estimated 3:39 mins reading time)


 

10 Steps to Productive Meetings

August 31, 2011 in Productivity, Rants with 15 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Meeting OverloadIf you’ve ever watched an episode of NBC’s “The Office” you know exactly what unproductive meetings look like. The tragic news is many real world meetings too closely resemble a fictional Michael Scott get together. Stories of “death by meeting” are a well represented part of corporate folklore for good reason – unplanned, unnecessary, uninspired, or otherwise unproductive meetings are a colossal waste of time and resources. In today’s post I’ll provide you with 10 steps to creating meetings that produce real results.

This is a preview of 10 Steps to Productive Meetings. Read the full post (1387 words, 1 image, estimated 5:33 mins reading time)


 

Leadership and Blame

August 15, 2011 in Leadership, Rants with 13 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

In the world of leadership where the traits of accountability and personal responsibility are so highly regarded, I have one question? What’s with all the finger pointing? One of my pet peeves is coming across leaders who think they’re always right, and that any problem or challenge that arises must clearly be the fault of someone else. Here’s the thing – as a leader, anything that happens on your watch is your responsibility whether you like it or not. This level of responsibility just goes with the territory, and leaders who cannot accept this do not deserve to lead. Last I checked we all make mistakes – I know I do. Most of us don’t look for perfection in leaders, we look for leaders who see mistakes as a chance for opportunity, growth and improvement, not an opportunity to blame shift.

This is a preview of Leadership and Blame. Read the full post (487 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)


 

Leadership is Black and White

August 11, 2011 in Leadership, Rants with 14 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

I was skimming through headlines on my RSS feed this past weekend when a particular title caught my eye – it simply read: “Situational Ethics.” Have we really devolved to this level of thinking? Situational Ethics – Really? If ever there was an oxymoron this is it. While this phrase seems to be getting play in some circles, my opinion is that it’s nothing more than the latest politically correct sound-bite which attempts to rationalize and justify wrong thinking and wrong behavior. Life is full of areas that benefit from flexibility, fluidity, context, and other forms of nuanced thinking, but ethics isn’t one of them. If the title of today’s post seems a bit rigid for you, I encourage you to read on and see why rigidity in certain areas can be highly productive.

This is a preview of Leadership is Black and White. Read the full post (761 words, 1 image, estimated 3:03 mins reading time)


 

Ideas Don’t Equal Innovation

August 1, 2011 in Innovation, Rants with 22 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Ideas Don't Equal Innovation
I had a long conversation yesterday with a friend discussing creativity, ideas, innovation, branding and the like. As a result of our conversation, I decided to dust-off an old post, give it a few updates, and pass along my thoughts, which can be best summarized as “Ideas Don’t Equal Innovation.“ It is my hope to help dispel the myth that ideas are inherently good things. Let me state right from the outset that I place little value on ideas. Not only do raw ideas have little intrinsic value, but they are often very costly. While I stipulate to the fact that ideas can sometimes lead to great things, I also submit that it is more frequently the case that ideas lead to disappointment, and even outright disaster. Those of you familiar with my work are probably wondering if it is really me authoring this text…if you’re baffled at how a champion of innovation can simultaneously be an idea-basher, I urge you to read on, and I promise the congruity will become apparent.

This is a preview of Ideas Don’t Equal Innovation. Read the full post (1129 words, 1 image, estimated 4:31 mins reading time)


 

Leadership & Loyalty

June 21, 2011 in Leadership, Rants with 14 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

For those of you not familiar with the two characters from Band of Brothers depicted above, they are polar opposites in terms of their approach to leadership. Captain Soble (left) represents a leader in rank only, whose efforts to intimidate his men are a classic example of fear based leadership. Shown at right is Lt. Winters, who leads by example and inspires the loyalty of his men by demonstrating he is worthy of their trust in even the most difficult of situations. In today’s post I’ll examine the value of loyalty as it relates to leadership.

This is a preview of Leadership & Loyalty. Read the full post (1147 words, 1 image, estimated 4:35 mins reading time)


 

Rethinking Good To Great

June 8, 2011 in Leadership, Operations & Strategy, Rants with 27 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

If you’re a frequent reader of this blog you know from time-to-time I’ll take aim at a sacred cow and pull the trigger. I’ve had issues with some of the concepts contained in Jim Collins book Good To Great since it was first released. Given the legions of those who have drunk the Good to Great Kool-Aid, I realize today’s post might be akin to spitting into the wind. That said, it is nonetheless my hope to burst a few bubbles and bust a few myths. The issue that finally placed the theories purveyed by Collins squarely into my cross-hairs was a recent conversation I had with a very intelligent man who referenced Good To Great as if he was quoting scripture, and referred to Jim Collins as if he were the Almighty Himself – enough was finally enough…

This is a preview of Rethinking Good To Great. Read the full post (1194 words, 1 image, estimated 4:47 mins reading time)


 
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