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Raising the Bar: Why Values Matter in the Workplace

Values are the foundation of an organization’s culture. Where Great Purpose provides the source of energy and the answer to why we work, values guide how we work and make decisions. This guidance will be intentional, or it will be unintentional, because...

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Upending the Pyramid: Why Serving Others in the Workplace Matters

While certainly not the author of the idea (or the practice, for that matter) of servant leadership, Robert K. Greenleaf catalyzed a modern “servant leadership movement” in management philosophy over the last 35 years.

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Blazing the Trail: Why Teaching and Removing Obstacles Matter in the Workplace

Many organizations struggle with identifying their “secret” to success. Often, founders are insufficiently clear about their own unique approach. They can do the job themselves, but they don’t know how to describe what makes them successful.

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Building on Strength: Why Making Others Stronger Matters in the Workplace

At the heart of serving leadership is a point of view about the human person, namely, that people are your organization’s greatest treasure. This point of view requires a change in the minds and hearts of leaders who are accustomed to thinking of their...

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Running to Great Purpose: Why Serving the Vision Matters in the Workplace

A common myth about leadership is that a leader is responsible to “establish a compelling vision.” This is just not true. Many leaders step into an organization that already has a great vision, and they should not try to prove that they are a leader by...

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Winning Workers' Hearts: Show Them How They Make a Difference

We know that a fully engaged workforce is the differentiator for organizational performance. More men and women need to show up at the beginning of the day with an owner’s mind (intent upon doing what is right and possible), rather than heading home at...

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Winning Workers' Hearts: Treat Them as a Treasure

A fully engaged workforce is the make or break of great organizational performance. Fully engaged men and women give their company or organization an edge that is nearly indomitable.

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Winning Workers' Hearts: Be Their Best Example

Not too long ago, I addressed a group from the Baker Leadership Fast Track Program, a program dedicated to empowering young-minded Pittsburgh professionals to learn more about civic engagement, community leadership, and service.

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Winning Workers' Hearts: Learn the Truth and Act Upon It

According to the “Pareto principle,” 80% of life’s results come from 20% of life’s efforts. The principle – as observed from nature, economics, business, and human organization – is sometimes also called the “80–20 rule” or the “law of the vital few....

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Winning Workers' Hearts: Invest in Their Strengths

Great organizations are great because many men and women choose to give their best at work, beyond their job description or their manager’s commands. This is the power of full worker engagement.

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Common Leadership Challenge #3: Mastering Leadership Succession

In earlier posts, I shared about the leadership challenges of turning vision into reality and aligning our words and actions. A third common leadership challenge is bridging the distance between our capacity and the capacity of those who follow us.

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Common Leadership Challenge #2: Aligning What We Say With What We Do

In my last post, I wrote on the leadership challenge of turning vision into reality, or as some would say, bridging the strategy-execution gap. In this entry, I want to share briefly on how leaders can get what they say to line up with what they do.

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Common Leadership Challenge #1: Turning Vision into Reality

As leaders, we each bring value to the world in our own distinct way. The uniqueness of the start of our leadership journey is extraordinary as we are born into the world and then move out to engage it, seeking to have impact, hoping to make friends,...

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Trust and Employee Engagement

It’s well documented that employee engagement has strong ties to critical business outcomes including productivity, profitability, and customer focus. Engaged workers—those involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work— lead innovation,...

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Why Serving Leadership?

Today, there is a growing movement towards Serving Leadership that was not discernable 50 years ago. Organizations around the globe are discovering the transforming impact of this age-old model that views a leader’s work as more about serving and empowering...

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Why Values Matter in the Workplace

Values are the foundation of an organization’s culture. Where Great Purpose addresses why we work, values guide how we work. This guidance will be intentional, or it will be unintentional, because every organization has values.

Two businesswomen shaking hands across a dark conference table in a modern office, surrounded by three seated colleagues smiling at the exchange.

Why Serving Matters in the Workplace

Robert Greenleaf catalyzed a modern “servant leadership movement” in management philosophy over the last 40 years. His famous quote on the subject was this: “Do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer,...

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STARTING OFF RIGHT: A Serving Leader's First "100 Days" (Pt. 2 of 2)

In my previous post, I shared specific tips for how you, as a Serving Leader, can make the most of the first “100 Days” of a new leadership assignment. Here’s a recap:

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STARTING OFF RIGHT: A Serving Leader’s First "100 Days" (Pt. 1 of 2)

Did you know the idea of forecasting a new president’s success from what he gets done during his first 100 days began with Franklin Roosevelt when he, in his first term, began tackling the challenges of the Great Depression in 1933?