Leadership Feeds

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Colin Fisher on group dynamics: “Being a member of a group changes how people see reality. Two groups can see the same event but believe wildly different things about it. Groups are a lens through which members view what is true. When a situation is new and uncertain, norms emerge quickly and most people fall in line rather than sticking up for their own (weakly held) points of view. In fact, many people adopt group norms so quickly, they don’t even realize they changed their own views.” Source: The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups II. Margaret Andrews on self-understanding: “Self-understanding is the foundation of effective leadership. However, society doesn’t emphasize self-understanding. With advertisers telling us what we should want and how we should measure success (usually money and the things money can buy), the power of influencers, the desire for ‘likes’ on our social media posts, and often families that push us to ‘succeed,’ we’re taught to chase what others have, to want what others want, and to care more about status and approval than self-understanding, personal growth, or living a meaningful life. Looking externally rather than internally leads to a lack of clarity about who we are and what we want, and this lack of clarity can lead us to make bad decisions.” Source: Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Hemant Taneja on radical collaboration: “Lobbing ‘disruptive’ innovations like random hand grenades into such large, established, and important sectors usually only changes things on the fringes. Those who work on the inside, who have spent their lives in their professions, get the sense that outsiders are invading and telling them they are outmoded or worthless, so they understandably push back. They might outright reject the innovation—or lobby to get policymakers to regulate the innovation away. Systemic transformation gets throttled when these disruptors fail to work with the system. Disruption needs to be disrupted, so to speak, by radical collaboration.” Source: The Transformation Principles: How to Create Enduring Change II. Rolf Dobelli on values: “When it comes to important issues, values allow you to have radical flexibility. Once you’ve defined your values clearly, you don’t have to weigh the pros and cons every time you are faced with a decision. It’s already been made for you.” Source: The Art of the Good Life: 52 Surprising Shortcuts to Happiness, Wealth, and Success * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.  …

HERE’S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups by Colin M. Fisher Why are groups so hard? From boring work meetings to dysfunctional families to warring nations, group dynamics shape every aspect of our lives. How can we avoid the common pitfalls of living and working together and get the most from our groups? The solution isn’t to change individuals—it’s to understand the world from a collective perspective. In The Collective Edge, Colin Fisher, one of the world’s foremost experts on group dynamics, distills decades of research into practical strategies to help groups function at their highest levels. The secret to getting the most from your groups is knowing how to work with the invisible forces of group dynamics instead of being mindlessly pushed around by them. Whether you’re a leader, team member, or simply interested in better understanding how groups work, The Collective Edge provides essential wisdom that will help your groups unlock their true potential. We Are Ambiverts Now by Karl Moore and Gabriele Hartshorne-Mehl Based on real-world evidence from senior executives and successful entrepreneurs, this book argues that an effective leader must act like an ambivert: an introvert at times and an extrovert at others. Thanks to landmark books such as How to Win Friends and Influence People, many professionals think that…

Here is a selection of Posts from August 2025 that you will want to check out: Feeling Blindsided? Try These Six Leadership Shifts by @TerriKlass Becoming Unoffendable by @KevinPaulScott The Best Teams in the World All Have These 3 Traits by @AlanSteinJr 3 Reasons Small Wins Crush Big Goals by Craig Groeschel Not All Feedback is Created Equal by @wallybock Why working in an office still matters via @FastCompany by Jim Misener How curiosity rewires your brain for change by @neuranne Anne-Laure Le Cunff 20 Ways to Get Mentally Tough by @JonGordon11 The Secret to Creative Fire? Gather the Fuel Before You Strike the Match by@wallybock The Breakthrough Question by @JeffHenderson Leaders Who Attention Bomb via @AdmiredLeaders 3 Reasons Leaders Must Care About the Details No One Else Sees by @BrianKDodd The Cult of the Rewatch: Why Nostalgia Is Eating Innovation via @LBBOnline In this climate – war, collapse, too many tabs open – people weren’t craving new ideas. They were craving control. Control felt like the past A Meretricious Meritocracy 1 of 5 by @jamesstrock This is the first of five posts relating to the modern American meritocracy A Meretricious Meritocracy 2 of 5 by @jamesstrock The bureaucratization of everything Five Ways To Finally Get Your Talent Noticed by @PhilCooke What A World (A few Stories) by @morganhousel Is Your Team a Committee in Disguise? Diagnose the Problem and Get Your Teamwork On Track by @SusanMazza The Leadership Drift: 7 Reasons Even Good Leaders Fail by @BrianKDodd The…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Luc de Brabandere on changing twice: “If you want to change, you have to change twice. You not only need to change the reality of your situation, you also need to change perception of this reality.” Source: The Forgotten Half of Change: Achieving Greater Creativity through Changes in Perception II. Nido Qubein on bureaucracy: “There is a tendency in any organization for it to become self-serving. The larger the organization grows and the older it is, the stronger this tendency expresses itself and becomes this kind of inertia, a growing gravitational field if you will, that pulls everything into its orbit. Whatever its stated goals or original mission may have been, the organization’s everyday purpose becomes more and more about the perpetuation of the organization itself. This is the essence of the term bureaucracy.” Source: Extraordinary Transformation: An Entrepreneurial Blueprint for Leaders Who Seek Transformational Growth in Any Organization * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.  …

NIDO QUBEIN began serving as Highpoint University’s president in 2005. As he toured the school in January of that year, it was not a school that he would even send his own children to. He was about to change that. He has led the university through an extraordinary transformation during his two decades and counting in office, including: Undergraduate and graduate enrollment has increased from 1,500 in 2005 to a record 6,335 students last fall, with the addition of 12 academic schools. This has been supported with a jump in the number of faculty members from 108 to more than 500. The Campus itself has also grown significantly with the construction of 128 new or renovated buildings on Campus and a total investment of more than $3 billion. The Campus has expanded from 91 acres to over 550 acres. In addition, HPU’s rankings have jumped from #17 in 2005 to #1. The university has maintained the #1 Regional College in the South for 13 consecutive years in “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report and #1 Most Innovative for 10 consecutive years. Extraordinary Transformation: An Entrepreneurial Blueprint for Leaders Who Seek Transformational Growth in Any Organization not only explains how this transformation happened but also provides the principles that can be applied to your professional and personal life. Entrepreneurs take note. Qubein provides a guide to transformational change. Here are some of the insights found in this book: You have to peer into the interior of events…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Richard Daft on reflection: “Reflection is also a choice: that of thoughtful wisdom over instant reaction. The idea of reflection is to find deeper understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, because organizational problems often are more complex than they look. Things move so fast that often you may not know what you really think or feel about an issue. Reflection makes your mind proactive rather than reactive.” Source: The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader’s Guide for Achieving Inner Excellence II. Antony Bell on humility: “Humility rests firmly on the foundation of self-awareness. Humility generates two qualities: a thirst for personal growth and a healthy dose of self-discipline. Requires a certain measure of humility to recognize what you don’t know and an equal measure to want to keep on learning. Humility recognizes that greatness requires work, and work requires self-discipline. Great leaders work hard, and, most of all, they work hard on themselves.” Source: Great Leadership: What It Is and What It Takes in a Complex World * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.  …

WE experience a tsunami of chaos in our environment, creating cross-pressures to achieve what appear to be contradictory goals at the same time. The solution is what Robert E. Siegel calls Systems Leadership. “Leaders face pressure to do opposing things at the same time, which can make them feel like no matter what they do or how well they do it, they are getting it all wrong.” The Systems Leader by Robert Siegel is based on systems thinking as made accessible in Peter Senge’s classic book The Fifth Discipline. In it, he “emphasized the interplay of actions and reactions between components of any kind of system, and the importance of studying those relationships holistically, not as isolated parts.” Systems Leadership incorporates strategies to reframe and learn how to master five key dimensions of cross-pressures that most leaders find themselves embroiled in and many fail to confront: Priorities: The need to succeed at both execution and innovation People: The need to project both strength and empathy Sphere of Influence: The need to focus both internally and externally Geography: The need to think both locally and globally Purpose: The need to pursue both ambition and statesmanship Systems Leadership begins with embracing how much you don’t know at any given moment, and gives you a way to move forward with reasonable confidence but not delusional overconfidence. Siegel asserts that many leaders fail to deal with these cross-pressures because they engage in counterproductive behaviors that feel good in the moment. For example, replacing…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Timothy Gallwey on learning to change behavior: “By the word ‘learning’ I do not mean the collection of information, but the realization of something which actually changes one’s behavior—either external behavior, such as a tennis stroke, or internal behavior, such as a pattern of thought.” Source: The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance II. Developer Nicoll Hunt on the first step: “The first step of any project is to grossly underestimate its complexity and difficulty.” Source: Nicoll Hunt * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.  …

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Hermann Hesse on things we all can do: “To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.” Source: If the War Goes on: Reflections on War and Politics   II. Henry Ford on the importance of giving value before you ask for value: “I quit my job on August 15, 1899, and went into the automobile business. … The most surprising feature of business as it was conducted was the large attention given to finance and the small attention to service. That seemed to me to be reversing the natural process which is that the money should come as the result of work and not before the work. My idea was then and still is that if a man did his work well, the price he would get for that work—the profits and all financial matters—would care for themselves and that a business ought to start small and build itself up and out of its earnings.” Source: My Life and Work * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the…

HERE’S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in August 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month. Scaling Innovation: How Smart Companies Architect Profitable Growth by Madhavan Ramanujam and Eddie Hartman The brutal truth: most startups and scale-ups don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because they never figure out how to grow fast―and profitably. Some chase market share at all costs, burning cash on customers who won’t pay enough to sustain the business. Others over-monetize too soon, pushing away the customers they need to reach scale. Still others obsess over customer loyalty, missing larger markets and monetization potential. And then there are those who assume a great product will sell itself, only to realize too late that pricing, packaging, positioning and value selling matter just as much. The true winners take a different approach. They adopt a Profitable Growth Mindset, refusing to choose between market expansion and monetization―instead, they dominate both. Instead of relying on instinct or momentum. Confident by Choice: The Three Small Decisions That Build Everyday Courage by Juan Bendaña What if you could summon genuine confidence anytime you need it? Being happier, building better relationships, overcoming fear: the missing link between you and everything you want to achieve is self-confidence. The problem? Confidence is hard to build, and even when we do, it often feels temporary and forced. After years of research and working with over 250,000 individuals,…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter on cultivating a mental focus: “As Al continues to advance and become more integrated into our working lives, it’s likely to further exacerbate the challenges posed by our already-distracted and data-filled environment. This new reality needs—no, demands—a proactive stance. Leaders who want to be successful today and tomorrow must commit to a more rigorous practice of cultivating inner stillness. They need to develop a deliberate, meaningful approach to managing the inner game of leadership—which starts with the mind. Actively cultivating a mind that is clearer and more spacious prevents leaders from being consumed by this relentless flow of data and enables them to make wiser, more informed decisions.” Source: More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead II. Jennifer Moss on eating lunch together: “Working remotely doesn’t have to be a barrier to building relational energy. Just take lunch with you and away from your desk. Call a friend or meet a friend. Go outside if you can. Eating lunch with others pays off. One study found that participants who ate together were more cooperative and trusting compared to those who did not. Eating with others also improved tenure and enhanced overall work group performance.” Source: Why Are We Here? Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants * * * Look for these ideas every…

Here is a selection of Posts from July 2025 that you will want to check out: 4 Lessons on Selecting the Right Leader for Your Organization from Guardiola and Silva by @BrianKDodd King’s Legacy Continues to Serve by @jamesstrock Our Founders’ Humanity Renders Their Example Compelling The Power of Self-Reflection: Transform Your Life from Within via @lifehackorg Leon Ho What is The Foundation of Achievement? 3 Leadership Lessons from Ichiro Suzuki’s Hall of Fame Speech by @BrianKDodd BREAK THE PLATEAU: How High Performers Raise Their Game When the Spark Fades by @AlanSteinJr Don’t Let Five Bad Minutes Steal Your Day by @TheDaily_Coach Our ability to pause, reframe, and reset during a bad five minutes—before an inconvenience becomes a mood, and before that mood becomes your message—is critical When to Ignore the Critics by @KevinPaulScott How To Lead When Your Team is Smarter or More Experienced Than You by @PhilCooke How (and Why) to Think Like an Entrepreneur by @brucerosenstein When the Growing Gets Tough by @Julie_WG If a Leader Had Only One Question They Could Ask via @AdmiredLeader The Leaders Who Say the Least: No Speech Needed via @TheDaily_Coach Everlasting Epilogue by @James_Albright Struggling to Write Consistently? 8 Proven Ways to Maintain Your Momentum! by @WallyBock The Lopsided Truth: Why Writing Your First Book Isn’t as Easy as It Looks by @WallyBock Why Some People Are Clutch via @AdmiredLeaders For America 250: The Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Citizenship from @jamesstrock Why Resistance to Change So Often Defies Logic…

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Greg Satell on change: “To grow, you have to connect, and the more you connect, the more central you become. The more central you become, the more power you have. And with enough power, you can bring change about.” Source: Cascades: How to Create a Movement that Drives Transformational Change II. Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller and Vikram Malhotra on changing early and often: “No one likes change, so you need to create a rhythm of change. Think of it as applying ‘heart paddles’ to the organization. The average lifetime of an organization in 1935 was ninety years, in 2015 it was eighteen years. You have to ask the question: ‘Why should we exist ten years from now?’ It’s an existential issue to change enough, regularly enough. If you’re not doing this, you’re not going to be around.” Source: CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.  …

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Adam Galinsky on encouraging the right result: “We often focus on the person, and what they generally do wrong. The next time you find someone repeatedly failing or find yourself being repeatedly annoyed at someone, ask yourself a few questions: Is the current situation setting them up to fail, or setting me up to be annoyed? What can I do to set this person up for success?” Source: Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others II. Mark Miller on working on the future: “The best leaders are comfortable being uncomfortable. We should always be working on problems bigger than our calendar and our checkbook can support. This is where we’ll find personal growth and new frontiers for our organization. The reward you receive for solving a problem is a bigger problem to solve.” Source: Uncommon Greatness: Five Fundamentals to Transform Your Leadership * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.  …

Botanists will tell you to have a vision for how you want a plant to look before you start pruning it. The same is true for your life and your business. Whether you’re talking about programs, processes, personal commitments, or even people – over time, they all tend to accumulate. You simply end up with more of everything. However, overgrowth impedes your ability to scale yourself and your business. In order to grow, you’re going to have to prune. Continue reading The Pruning Principle at Full Focus.

It’s that time of year again. The weather is changing, leaves are falling off the trees, and your favorite leadership podcast is talking about Strategic Planning again. If there’s one thing that humans do well, it’s imagining the future. (We can do it badly, too, of course.) But the important thing is that we can create better outcomes for ourselves and our businesses when we do it intentionally. That’s where Strategic Planning comes in. Continue reading 6 Essential Ingredients for Effective Strategic Planning at Full Focus.

“Quiet quitting” seems to be the hot topic of conversation in business and leadership circles right now. But what exactly is “quiet quitting”? How can you figure out if your employees are doing it? And, perhaps most importantly, how can you create an organizational culture where your team members will feel empowered in their job?   Continue reading How to Avoid Quiet Quitting in Your Business at Full Focus.

You spend your days managing details, scheduling meetings, and replying to emails — by the time you start on the “real work,” the workday is half over. This ends up cutting into your personal life as you try to make up for lost time. It all leads to you feeling more tired, more stressed, and less productive at work and at home. If you heed our advice, you can minimize this pain. The advice is simple: hire an executive assistant! Continue reading 5 Mistakes Business Owners Make When Hiring an Assistant at Full Focus.

Last week we talked about the importance of a thriving company culture. Hopefully, Michael and Megan made the case that a company culture is both important and the responsibility of the leader. We’re going to continue that conversation by talking about how businesses can actually cultivate a thriving company culture – no matter where they’re starting from.   Continue reading 4 Ingredients for a Thriving Company Culture at Full Focus.

Anywhere you find a group of people, you’ll find a culture. That’s true for families, churches, cities, neighborhoods, and anything else you can think of that includes more than one person. This idea is especially true for businesses. Leaders need to have a vision for how they want their culture to look and feel. If they don’t, they could find themselves surrounded by a toxic culture that not only hurts business but makes everyone miserable. Continue reading Why a Thriving Culture Is Essential at Full Focus.

Your business is probably the largest single asset in your portfolio. You’ve invested time and money, and, one day, you may want to see a healthy return on those investments. If you want to maximize the value of your business, then you should start making plans today. Continue reading How to Maximize the Market Value of Your Business in 8 Steps at Full Focus.

There is no denying that you will get further, faster with a good coach. But what about a great coach? How much further could you get with amazing coaching? Today’s episode tackles that question by talking with LeeAnn Moody, Director of Performance Coaching for Full Focus. LeeAnn and Michael break down the four characteristics of great coaching and help you identify what you might need to be successful for your organization. Continue reading What Makes Good Coaching Great at Full Focus.

During the height of the pandemic, everyone was forced to go remote. But, now that offices have opened back up, leaders and staff are confronted with some challenging questions around a seemingly basic concept: Where should work happen? Continue reading What Elon Musk Gets Wrong About Remote Work at Full Focus.

What if you could grow your business and only do about 20% of the work you’re currently doing? If that were true, you would do almost anything to find out how to do it, right? Continue reading The 10/80/10 Principle: Grow Your Business with 20% of the Work at Full Focus.