Impacting Your DEI Initiatives With Data

Implementing a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program requires an organization-wide cultural change. This change needs to start from the top and permeate throughout every level. Some of the areas impacted by the change include promotions, assignments, hiring practices and resources planning. Additionally, individual managers will need to change the way they select or recommend people for an opportunity as well as embrace new processes while selecting from a broader pool of qualified candidates.

Tales From the Leadership Front: The Negative Impact of Toxic Leaders

Have you ever worked for a toxic leader? Fortunately for me, I have never been in that situation. I’ve worked for bad or ineffective leaders, but not a toxic one. Toxic leaders disrespect their employees, are abusive, unethical and typically don’t take responsibility when something goes wrong (but will take the credit when things go right).

Tales From the Leadership Front: “How Can I Get You to Stay?”

At some point in our careers, many of us have heard this question after we turned in a resignation letter. It’s happened to me a couple of times. One occasion that stood out was when I was assigned to manage the relationship of an unhappy insurance client. They had reason to be unhappy as their project was way behind schedule with no plan in place to finish it in a timely manner. Additionally, their 5-year, multi-million-dollar annual contract expired at the end of December. I was assigned the client in April and charged with getting them to renew before the cancellation notice deadline of September 30.

Leadership Trust Lessons from a Punk Rock Moshpit

A few days ago, I attended a hardcore punk rock show that included my daughter Bryanna Bennett’s band Buggin’, which she is the lead vocalist for. This was part of their West Coast, 6 city tour, which included several sold out shows. I had seen her perform before, but not with this new band that was formed during her college years. She has been attending hardcore shows since she was 14 years old and performing in a band since high school.

PSST! The Leadership Gaps are Coming from Inside Your Organization!

You are probably very familiar with the well-worn old horror movie trope where people are receiving threatening calls from someone only to find out that the calls are coming from inside the house? Of course, you would have to suspend reality because when this trope was first used, the people were still only using landlines. Someone calling you from inside your house using your landline was impossible.

Is Your Leadership Program Missing the Target?

It is if it doesn’t include a Leadership Resources Management Solution (LRMS). An LRMS is a data-driven approach to managing an organization’s leadership resources. It replaces subjective interviews, relationship-based promotions and selections with a quantifiable, repeatable and unbiased leadership management tool.

The impact of using LeadershipRMS in your organization is significant, including:

Identifying the Gaps in Your Leadership Practice

Most people overestimate their leadership abilities. That’s assuming they have performed any type of personal leadership assessment. In our leadership training sessions, after some basic leadership level setting, the first, and longest, topic we discuss is assessing one’s leadership abilities. This includes assessing who the participants are as a person, who they are as a leader, how their leadership is perceived by others and their situational influences. This are usually a very illuminating exercises as they learn more about themselves and the perceptions of others they work with. After all, if you don’t know yourself, how can you expect to lead others. Additionally, in leadership, perception is everything. If the people around you don’t perceive you as a good leader they may resist following you. On the other hand, if they perceive you as a good leader, they will probably follow you almost anywhere.