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Is Failure Truly Not an Option?

person
David Harper
“If an educated work force is the nation’s human capital, business is seeing a lot of subprime these days.” – from An Educated Workforce, Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2009 Recently the Wall Street Journal invited top CEOs and policy makers to Washington to discuss critical issues facing the United States. According to John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, and a Co-Chair of the assembled task force on…

Now More than Ever, Offer One Hand to Shake and One Throat to Squeeze – Original draft

person
David Harper
Today more than ever, companies are looking for leaders. Not the kind to fill management or leadership vacancies. They’re looking for employees, whether or not they have people under their direction, to step up and demonstrate a greater ability to contribute. They’re looking for people to lead in terms of what they bring to the table each and every day. In a different time, one might have argued that this…

Why You Should Know What Your Leaders Do. – Original draft

person
David Harper
All great hockey players are ambitious and have a desire to win. Therefore, if I am ambitious and have a desire to win, I should become a great hockey player. As silly as this sounds, versions of this logic arise in leadership development. Example: We study a select group of great leaders, see what attributes they have in common, and then make conclusions about which leadership attributes are required for…

Do Your Leader Vacuums Need a Cleaning? – Original draft

person
David Harper
“Nature abhors a vacuum.” The quote is often attributed to Aristotle, the Greek philosopher (and student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great) who lived from 384 to 322 BC. The quote has nothing to do with your carpets or your Hoover, Electrolux, or Dyson. Aristotle was talking about voids in space, places that are empty of matter, empty of “stuff”. Aristotle felt that true perfect vacuums, or voids,…

How Big is Your Blind Spot? – Original draft

person
David Harper
So now another high-profile male political figure has come clean about his lack of integrity. The past couple of years have been busy ones: from Spitzer and Edwards, to Kilpactrick, Ensign, and now Sanford. ABC News even has a web site devoted to “Politicians Who Cheat”: There’s 17 featured in all, all male (but that’s a subject for a different 60-Second Email™). One question that has come to my mind…

I’m No Susan Boyle or Captain Kirk

person
David Harper
One clear impact of this recession is that people, businesses, and leaders are getting back to basics. People are questioning, and in some cases are being forced to question, what’s important in their lives. Businesses are examining their business models, delineating between what used to work in the past, from what must work in the future. Leaders are focusing on performance now more than ever. Their staff and resources have…

Leadership Lessons from The Economic Meltdown

person
David Harper
Issue:  Corporate Extravagance & Excess during an Economic Crisis Leadership Lesson: Values flow from the top.  Period.  People grow numb listening to platitudes and well worn speeches.  Look at what you say and how you act on a daily basis.  What would your employees say about your integrity:  “No question, he/she’s got” or “She/he likes a more flexible truth”?  Put what you regularly say and do on YouTube for all…

What You Learn by Playing Poker

person
David Harper
In this post, I interview my friend and colleague Bob Silverstein (organizational crisis and change consultant), who discusses the practical applications of studying and playing No Limit Texas Hold ’em poker. Bob, please tell us about your professional background. I’m a clinical social worker and consultant with over 25 years of experience as a crisis manager, organizational change consultant, employee counselor and executive coach.  Currently I work primarily in a…

Experience is Teaching, Now.

person
David Harper
In the last post, I cited the work of Lombardo and Eichinger in discussing the type of experiences that lead to significant personal development.  These experiences have four qualities in common: 1)  You know very little about the experience as you go into it. 2)  You have to make a difference. 3)  You feel a chance of significant failure. 4)  You feel a tremendous amount of pressure. I realized, however,…

Fear: Maybe not a Friend, but a Reliable Companion

person
David Harper
This past weekend at a local conference, I delivered a presentation on overcoming barriers to effective talent development.  I also had the chance to attend other presentations too.  At one, the facilitator split the room into sections, and labeled each one with a specific emotion.  He then asked people to stand in the section that best described the atmosphere in their company.  Would it be surprising to say that 70…

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