Mike Figliuolo’s favorite part of being a tank platoon leader was taking his men on a tank gunnery exercise. But a new soldier who transferred into his platoon flouted rules, took a sloppy approach and lacked fire in the belly. No amount of yakking helped—but a 7UP did ...

Think like an inventor by looking for opportunity in failure. British inventor James Dyson says that in trying to develop a fine blade of high-speed air for another product, his team accidentally came up with new hand-dryer technology.  “We saw, in that moment of failure, an idea that had huge advantages in another field,” he says.

What leadership needs is a return to character, says John C. Bogle in his best-selling book Enough. “We’ll be better human beings and achieve greater things if we challenge ourselves to pursue careers that create value for our society—with personal wealth not as a goal, but as the by-product, " writes Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group.

The first time Lloyd C. Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, was put in charge of something, the business started losing money right away. Nervous as hell, he went to his boss. "Blankfein said, ‘You know, we’re losing money.’ And the boss said, ‘Well, what would you do?’ Blankfein said what he would do, and the boss said: ‘That sounds right. Why don’t you do that?’” Blankfein would always remember that leadership lesson.

Not every employee who earns a promotion will be successful at the new job. While you certainly want to do everything possible to allow the employee to thrive in the new assignment, you’ve also got to be practical. When you conduct those initial performance reviews, consider the possibility that the employee will ultimately fail. Here’s how to encourage success, but plan for potential failure:

Even leaders have blind spots, those automatic behaviors that can narrow your field of view and foul up decisions. Some myths that create blind spots: “I should have all the answers, I should know what to do, and I should be able to handle things alone.” Watch for these three blind spots:

Skip straight to someone’s voice mail by using Slydial, a service that lets you leave a message for someone you know you can’t reach in person ... Take your job search to Twitter. Some companies are using Twitter to fill positions that tend to attract tons of applicants on job boards, such as administrative roles, one HR vice president tells The Wall Street Journal ... Put a meandering meeting back on track by addressing those who veer off-topic.

Legendary football coach Bill Walsh remembers that quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young came to the San Francisco 49ers with supremely high expectations of themselves. Walsh let them know he thought they could do more than anything. The best way to do that with your own team, he says, is to use the four most powerful words:

Cyclists at this year’s Tour de France proved you don’t have to be the “leader” to dazzle people with your leadership skills. Teammates on one team acted like leaders when they helped propel one of their fellow cyclists to win six stages of the race.

When A. Barry Rand, now chief of AARP, was chairman and CEO of Avis back in 1999, “I went in there with a bias. I was tired of seeing the motto, ‘We’re second and we try harder.’ I intended to change it." What stopped him?

At Google, anyone can be a leader—or at least act like one. The result is that anyone can be more effective, get more done, influence the process and support an innovative environment. To teach leadership to 20,000 employees, says Evan Wittenberg, head of global leadership development, Google leans on a few principles:

Ask senior executives to decode leadership for you and you’ll probably get a long, useless list of qualities. For this reason, three students of management set about grouping together what happens when leadership happens:

Mindful of his fast rise, Matt Mullenweg has given some thought to leadership. The idiosyncratic 25-year-old founded Automattic, parent company of the blogging tool WordPress, which powers 12 million blogs. Some of his priorities:

The Washington Redskins’ hiring of an “offensive consultant” looked to some like a pure play to undermine the head coach. The Redskins owner rationalized that his hired hand was “another pair of eyes.” That only works, though, if the coach wants another set of eyes. Since that wasn’t the case, the owner appeared to be perpetuating infighting and chaos. Result? A case of “toxic management.”

Dump this worst “best” practice, 360º anonymous feedback, advises Susan Scott, author of Fierce Leadership. “Anonymous feedback doesn’t tell us what we really need to know and leaves us wondering, ‘Who thinks that about me?!’” she says. Instead, exchange feedback face-to-face as soon as possible after something occurs.

Nancy McKinstry, chief executive officer and chairwoman of the multinational publisher Wolters Kluwer, describes herself as an analytical person. She also calls herself an “insider-outsider” who knows her company thoroughly from the inside but also is an outsider in the sense that she became its first non-Dutch CEO and the first woman to lead it.

Gary E. McCullough, president and CEO of the Career Education Corp., recalls the role a candy bar played in one of the most important leadership lessons he’s ever learned ...

In my presentations and group coaching, I’m fond of quoting Charles de Gaulle’s observation that “The cemeteries are full of indispensable men.” Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke may be the exception to de Gaulle’s rule.

First, set aside the stereotype that the federal bureaucracy is inherently dysfunctional. Sure, it’s got plenty of faults. But Uncle Sam’s best-run agencies can actually teach private-sector employers a thing or two about HR. Here are eight lessons employers can learn from the biennial agency-by-agency ranking of federal employers:

The hallmark of a good leadership story? Inspiring, motivational, memorable and short—like, two minutes short. In the age of Twitter, people don’t have time or patience for much more than that. How to build a 120-second narrative? Here are six tips:

Despite a two-year rise in job satisfaction between 2006 and 2008, about 212,000 federal workers consistently gave lower ratings than private-sector workers on their supervisors’ leadership skills, openness and willingness to help employees advance.

If you happen to have 100 million Euros (about $150 million) to spare, you might be in the market for the yacht, The Why, pictured to the left. Yes, that’s the stern of a boat that was featured in the House & Home section of a recent edition of the Financial Times Weekend. 

As described in the FT, The Why is a one of a kind yacht with 3,400 meters of guest space and an optimal cruising speed of only 12 knots. (You can see more pictures of The Why at http://www.why-yachts.com .)

Many leaders at larger companies fancy themselves too busy or important to do the messy work of managing, says Henry Mintzberg, management professor at McGill. You’re not a leader if you’re AWOL. And while, yes, there’s a difference between leading and managing, that doesn’t preclude leaders from rolling up their sleeves and pitching in.

Lavish office parties are as distant a memory as mimeograph machines for most workers. This year, as companies cinch their belts a little tighter than usual, how are you handling the holiday office party? Administrative professionals weighed in with their suggestions on our Admin Pro Forum:

Don’t depend on comprehensive health care reform to significantly cut the cost of the health insurance benefits you provide to employees. Many of America’s best companies have found that a few best practices do a remarkably good job of improving employee health and controlling health care expenses. Here are some of the best practices in health benefits used by America’s best employers.

Leaders should ask less and tell more. But is that right? Sometimes it pays to go back to the vault for advice. NASA research on crisis management suggests the command-and-control response may be wrong.

What does it take to jump the fence from your administrative role and be seen as a true leader in the company? The HR Specialist posed the following question to three of the leading HR thought leaders in America today: “What are the actions that a true HR leader takes to demonstrate leadership within an organization?” Their answers pointed to the following six actions:

Set aside any notions you might have that the federal bureaucracy is inherently dysfunctional. In fact, Uncle Sam’s best agencies have a thing or two to teach private-sector employers. Here are eight lessons employers can learn from the biennial agency-by-agency ranking of federal employers by the Partnership for Public Service and American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation.

Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea, soon found that he had no sounding board. But when the Aspen Institute chose him for a leadership program, Goldman found the outlet he needed. Here’s what he did—and what you can re-create:

Though work mates care about you, they pay more attention to messages that show there’s something in it for them, says Susan Mason, a principal of Vital Visions Consultants. So, for example, if you want something from your boss—whether it’s approval on a new printer purchase or a more flexible schedule—figure out what benefit she will realize. Figure out “What’s In It For Me?” from her perspective.

Sometimes, it takes a new manager or supervisor to see how poorly an employee is performing. If an employee who has been getting good reviews suddenly appears to slump under new leadership, don’t jump the gun and discipline the employee right away. Here’s a better approach ...

A brutal economy … layoffs … pay cuts. These are trying times to be a U.S. worker, and not all are handling it well. Nearly half of U.S. workers say they feel stressed out, compared with 39% in other countries, according to a Robert Half International survey. Here are 10 ways to deal with your employees' recession-induced stress:

You’ve just made another tough promotion decision, and 10 other urgent tasks require your attention. Before you move to the next item on your to-do list, take the time to document the promotion process. That way, if you are later sued, you can easily show the court the factors you considered.

Do you know exactly how you should respond to a sexual or racial harassment complaint? If you don’t, now is a good time to come up with a strategy—before you have to implement it. Advice: Your plan should spell out exactly how the harassment investigation will be handled, who will handle it and what will happen if the allegations prove true.

Leadership advisor Marshall Goldsmith was having dinner with a top officer in the U.S. Army. Also at the table were seven new generals. The senior officer laughed as he looked at their bright new stars and contemplated his own retirement—a transition Goldsmith was helping him make. What advice did he give them?

Dov Frohman says leadership can’t be taught—but it can be learned. He should know. The founder and former CEO of Intel Israel never takes the easy path. Through an almost desperate force of will mirroring that of his mentor, Intel CEO Andy Grove, Frohman built up a small desert outpost into a massive semiconductor plant, Israel’s largest private employer.

The pace of change seems to grow more urgent every year. Some see it as an attribute of leadership in the 21st century—right up there with judgment and courage. Consider then, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who spread the speed creed 70 years before it was cool.

Nobody argues the fact that Robert McNamara was a genius. The Ford Motor Co. whiz kid who led the Pentagon into the Vietnam War, and the World Bank into unprecedented expansion, solved problems with sheer brains. But McNamara’s flaw may have been that, in a larger sense, he just didn’t “get it.”

For the past several months, The New York Times has been running interviews on leadership with the CEOs of well-known organizations. The best one in the series so far is the interview with Dave Novak, CEO of Yum Brands. I’d like to share six thoughts from him on how to be a great leader, along with my take on how to follow through on those thoughts.

Question:  “Although I am considered the lead supervisor in my department and have practically run the place for the past year, the company recently chose someone else to be department manager. An executive who is new to our company made this decision. He didn’t offer me an interview or make any effort to get to know me. I am having trouble accepting the situation and feel very resentful. How can I get past this?  And when I talk with this executive, how do I convince him that I would have been the right person for the job?” — Passed Over

General Electric’s CEO emeritus Jack Welch says leadership in tough times is the same as it ever was: “to do and dream at the same time.” Problem is, because of economic gridlock, most of today’s leaders are only doing. Why?

Dr. Robert Eliot is famous for saying, “Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” The cardiologist has even more great advice about keeping stress in check:

Ram Charan, leadership guru and author of Execution, offers what he calls the essential qualities leaders have to possess in hard times. For starters, honesty, which isn't easy, especially when the wind is constantly shifting. “How can you tell people what you believe,” he asks, “when you can’t be confident that it is right?”

You may be using Twitter.com already. If not, it’s worth taking a second look. Why? Because savvy businesses are using the tool to do some of what you do already—smooth out the information flow between leadership and everyone else. Here's how Twitter can help you on the job:

When Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America, considers someone for a leadership role, she goes beyond standard questioning to discover whether it’s a good fit. Think of it as an extended interview.

Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey gets credit for several firsts. He’s best known for signing the first black major league baseball player, Jackie Robinson; drafting the first Hispanic, Roberto Clemente; inventing the minor league farm system; and introducing the batting helmet. Rickey, however, did none of those things alone ...

This month's collection of real-world quick tips from American business leaders, brought to you by members of The Alternative Board.

The Mayo Clinic is known for its unique approach to leadership development. These four tenets are critical to maintaining its culture:

“The core of leadership is intentional influence,” says Tim Tassopoulos, Chick-fil-A's COO. He knows that his success depends on whether his employees behave in ways that improve results. How do leaders influence behavior change?

The United States is facing a swine flu outbreak that has caused the government to declare a public health emergency. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published new guidelines to help employers prepare for flu season and prevent the rapid spread of the H1N1 influenza. Here are the CDC's suggestions, plus insight on your risks and obligations as an employer ...

When Jan Carlzon, former CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, wanted to give customer service representatives more autonomy, he feared the board of directors would balk. Even if the board members initially approved it, they might reverse course when faced with any backlash ...

No, I’m not talking about some schlocky movie that didn’t make it into theatres this summer.  I’m talking about Brad Garlinghouse, a former Yahoo Senior Vice President who was hired this week to be a key part of the leadership team charged with spinning AOL out of Time Warner over the next year. For fans of memorable business communication, Garlinghouse is best known as the author, in 2006, of a memo to the top executives at Yahoo that came to be known as “the peanut butter manifesto.” 

Among other points in the manifesto, Garlinghouse wrote:

“I've heard our strategy described as spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular.

I hate peanut butter. We all should”

His memo, which was eventually featured in a front page article in the Wall Street Journal, was a clarion call for Yahoo to get its act together and recapture its leadership position in the Internet space. That hasn’t happened yet (and may never happen), but the memo set off a chain of events which led to a change in top leadership and the implementation of many of the strategies that Garlinghouse wrote about.

So, as Garlinghouse joins AOL to help lead what is a combination of a turnaround and a start-up, I thought it was worth taking a look at the peanut butter manifesto to see what we can learn about how leaders can influence their bosses through highly effective communications. Here are a few takeaways:

Lead your team using Google’s “wisdom of crowds” model ... Lay the foundation for tomorrow’s workforce by developing virtual teams ... Close the gap between leader and followers by demonstrating visibly that you value employees.

The journal Chief Executive again rated its 20 best companies for leaders last year, with 3M shooting up to the top from 15th place the year before. One thing that may account for 3M’s rapid rise was a greater reliance on peer assessment.

Now that the Cash for Clunkers program is over, the results are coming in and it looks like the big winners from the program are Hyundai and Ford with year over year monthly sales increases of 47% and 17% respectively. The number three selling new car during the Clunkers program was the Ford Focus with the Ford Escape showing up in the top 10 as well. The other two American car companies actually showed declines in sales during August with GM down almost 20% from last year and Chrysler sales down 15%.

What’s the difference between the three U.S. auto makers? Obviously, there are a lot of factors, but I’d argue the most important is leadership.  As I wrote in this blog back in August of 2007, my money was on Ford CEO Alan Mulally to lead a turnaround at Ford and it looks like that’s what he’s doing. I spent some time earlier today reading some recent articles about Mulally and watching some video interviews with him to try to determine what he’s done right since arriving at Ford from the Boeing Corporation in 2006.  (My sources include articles in Fortune magazine, Business Week, and the U.K. Guardian along with video interviews from Time magazine and the New Yorker

Based on that research, here are five Mulally success factors I’ve come up with that I think apply to any leader charged with leading a turnaround in their organization.

This spring’s swine flu scare might have been just a warm-up act for a far more serious flu pandemic this fall. If you took steps to prepare your workplace for an outbreak in April, dust off those plans and check them against our list of things to do to make sure your organization keeps running in the coming months.

And for this latest edition of the Leadership Lessons Podcast, something completely different. I’m talking today with the Tony Award winning Broadway star Michael Cerveris. Since his Broadway debut in 1993 as the lead in The Who’s Tommy, Michael has been nominated for four Tony Awards including best actor for Sweeney Todd and winning best actor for his role as John Wilkes Booth in Stephen Sondheim’s The Assassins.  His credits are too numerous to mention here but you may also know him as The Observer in the Fox series, Fringe.  This Fall he’ll be appearing in the new film, The Vampire’s Assistant with Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly and, beginning in October, will open at Lincoln Center as one of the leads in In The Next Room.

An impressive career to be sure, but why is Michael doing a Leadership Lessons Podcast?

Most Americans alive today cannot remember a time when a Kennedy of the generation of John, Robert and Ted was not playing a major public role in the life of the nation. The passing of Ted Kennedy this week literally marks the end of an era and is, I think, one reason why his death has moved so many people.  It is the clear end of an era in all of our lives.

There have been so many perceptive and thoughtful commentaries and remembrances written about Ted Kennedy in the past few days that it feels somewhat redundant on my part to add to the mix. Still, there are three quick things I want to address in this post.

First, I want to point you to some of the columns on Kennedy that I’ve found most thought provoking.  They include David Broder’s in the Washington Post, David Brooks’ in the New York Times and John F. Harris’s and Alexander Burns’ on Politico.com. 

Second, I want to share a couple of leadership lessons from Kennedy’s life that I think are important and that I have not seen clearly stated elsewhere (with complete acknowledgement that they may have been. I haven’t read everything.)

In my presentations and group coaching work, I’m fond of quoting Charles DeGaulle’s observation that,  “The cemeteries are full of indispensable men.”  The point I’m trying to make with that line is that while every leader has unique opportunities and responsibilities in their role that only they can do, no one is personally indispensible.  President Obama’s renomination of Ben Bernanke for another term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve has me thinking that Bernanke may be the exception that proves DeGaulle’s rule. As Robert J. Samuelson writes in the Washington Post today, Bernanke, with his unique background as one of the world’s foremost experts on the Great Depression and his willingness to take decisive and innovative action to restore faith in the credit markets, could merit a Time magazine cover headline as “The Man Who Saved the World.”

This month's collection of real-world quick tips from American business leaders, brought to you by members of The Alternative Board.

A lot of the clients I work with in our group coaching program are middle managers. They’ve moved beyond the level of front line leaders and supervisors, but have not yet reached the ranks of the most senior executives. They’re the directors, senior directors and vice presidents in the private sector and the GS-15’s and SES – 1’s in federal government. And, based on my experience in working with them over the years, I would say that more and more they are the meat in the sandwich. By that, I mean they’re constantly squeezed from pressure above them and below them in the organization.

Over the weekend, one of my colleagues from the Georgetown Leadership Coaching program, Marijo Puleo, shared a McKinsey survey report, Leaders in the Crisis, on the alumni list serve. In that same daily digest from the list serve there was an extended conversation sparked by another colleague who has a client in crisis. Like a lot of people these days, this client simply has too much work to get it all done and still have a semblance of a life. About ten coaches responded to that issue and said they’re seeing the same thing with their clients.

How much more evidence do we need that middle managers are the meat in the sandwich? The McKinsey survey had some interesting results that illustrate the point. Here are a few factoids for you.  Middle managers, compared to the top execs surveyed, are:

• Less committed to staying with their organizations
• Less enthusiastic about their work
• Less satisfied with their own performance and
• Far less satisfied than the seniors with how their bosses are doing. (Ouch!)

Does anyone else see a problem here? These are not just the people responsible for keeping things running during the current economic challenges, these are also the leaders that organizations are counting on for long term growth and success. The stakes around keeping this group engaged are pretty high. Here are a few ideas based on the McKinsey research about how to do a better job with that.

At 26,000 feet in the air and only 400 feet from the summit of Broad Peak in Pakistan, two climbers were forced to stay in a snow cave for the night. The pair strategized a survival plan. Three things are critical to survival in those conditions, which work in other situations when you have to hunker down:

There’s a hefty price to pay when a company doesn’t trust its employees, and employees don’t trust their company. Stephen M.R. Covey, son of the 7 Habits author, argues that if you don’t have a high-trust organization, you’re actually paying taxes on everybody’s suspicions.

As I wrote last week, the health care reform debate is, unfortunately, full of important lessons for leaders on how not to drive change. Admittedly, it’s a lot easier to observe what seems to be going wrong when you’re watching the process instead of being in the middle of it. Still, it seems like President Obama’s reform process is running off the rails. The White House spent last week playing defense on the health care reform town halls and the latest example is this morning’s confusion (as reported on Politico ) about whether or not a public insurance option is still on the table.  

How did we get here?  I think there are three lessons from how the President and his team have handled this that anyone who is responsible for leading dramatic change should pay attention to. 

Are Pennsylvania employers ready for yet another category of protected employees? Another bill has been introduced in the General Assembly that would protect all Pennsylvanians from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

People tolerate superaggressive leaders if their visions are exceptionally strong, but it’s a dicey proposition. Experience shows that bullies, even when considered “visionaries,” tend to go too far.

 My wife, the healthy food blogger (www.thewholegang.org), and I played hooky from work last Friday afternoon and went to the 1:10 pm showing of the new movie, Julie and Julia. (We were there with all of the retired folks and I concluded that that looks like a pretty sweet gig.)  Anyway, it’s a great movie – two thumbs way up from both of us. Anytime you have Meryl Streep (as Julia Child) and Stanley Tucci (as her husband Paul Child) acting together you’re well on your way to a great movie.

One of the questions that I get asked all the time in coaching sessions and speaking engagements is, “How do I work with or influence my new boss?”  That’s a great question because it outlines a situation that most executives are going to face multiple times throughout their careers.  I wrote about this topic a few months ago in a riff on how Secretary of Defense Robert Gates rather seamlessly transitioned from working for George W. Bush to Barack Obama.  (You can see that post here.)

A  couple of weeks ago, I got a call from a reporter who was working on a story about how to influence your boss and found the Gates post online. He was pitching the story to a web site that’s focused on Gen X and Gen Y guys in the workforce.  When he told me the intended audience, my first thought about how to influence your boss was, “Ask for directions.” Of course, as any wife or girlfriend who has been lost with her guy in the car knows, asking for directions is one of the hardest things for guys to do. Getting into why that’s the case would provide enough material for a whole separate blog. So, let me focus in on why asking for direction is my first piece of advice for anyone (not just guys) who wants to influence their new boss.

Here are three quick tips:

The economy is still funky. Unemployment continues to rise. And, with Boomers entering their retirement years, some of those older laid-off employees are crying foul. In fact, the EEOC last year reported a shocking 29% rise in age discrimination claims. The good news: A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision made it more difficult for employees to win such cases, as the following case shows …

Workers can feel left behind when some employees are “allowed” to work from home, while they are firmly planted at the office. “The co-worker who has to stay behind has to get over that, as much as a manager has to get over the idea that the only way to manage is by ‘face time,’” says Rose Stanley, an employee benefits specialist with WorldatWork.

Been to a Starbucks lately?  If so, what do you think?  If you’re a long time Starbucker, how does the experience in the stores lately compare with the way things were four or five years ago?

What do any of these questions have to do with leadership, you ask?  (After all, that’s what this blog is supposed to be about.)  Here’s where I’m coming from.

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about how Starbucks is starting a company-wide program to implement the concepts of lean manufacturing to raise the efficiency and productivity of its stores. In a tight economy, it’s understandable why Starbucks or any organization would focus on controlling its costs.

Attitudes have changed for the better in many offices, where the fear of layoffs still runs high. But what happens when employees become so busy kissing up to the boss that they stop pulling their weight at work? How are you supposed to deal with a kiss-up, do-nothing co-worker?

Last week was a vacation week for me and this week sort of, kind of is. What’s the difference?  Well, one big difference is location – Laguna Beach, CA vs. Northern Virginia.  I learned last week that when the Pacific Ocean is a three block walk down the street from where you’re staying that it’s pretty easy to lose track of time. And then there’s the three hour time difference between the West Coast and the East Coast.  That always throws off my rhythm a bit.

For most Americans, cycling’s annual 15 minutes of fame has come and gone with Sunday’s conclusion of this year’s Tour de France. In case you missed it, this year’s winner was Spain’s Alberto Contador. Finishing third and making a comeback after a three and a half year retirement was the seven time winner Lance Armstrong. One thing that made the race more interesting than usual this year was that Contador and Armstrong were on the same team although you’d never have known that from the way they’re sniping at each other now.

In a post race press conference, Contador said, “My relationship with Lance is zero.  He is a great rider and has completed a great race, but it is another thing on a personal level, where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will.”

Armstrong fired back on his Twitter account. Quoting the tweet, "Seeing these comments from AC (Alberto Contador). If I were him I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team. Without them, he doesn't win."

Snap and double snap.

Discipline and termination meetings are emotionally charged events that carry the potential for nasty words, hurt feelings and even legal troubles. As a manager, you never know how employees will respond to discipline or firings. But you need to be prepared for anything—including employees who “let it all out” in long, loud rants. Follow these four do’s and don’ts to defuse rants and avoid lawsuits:

CEOs want their HR leaders to break outside the operational box and become more strategic players. But many HR pros are so bogged down by daily process, they have trouble lifting their heads out of the weeds. Here's a self-assessment to help you gauge the strategic value you bring to your organization.

“Hot teams” improvise, do more work with less supervision and make the extra effort to follow through. Management consultant Laurence Haughton offers this advice for turning ordinary groups into hot teams.

Last week,  I sent out one of my periodic newsletters which featured my recent blog post on leadership lessons from the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. That article prompted a note from Rich Beach, a director at IT services provider CGI and an alumnus of our Next Level Leadership™ group coaching program. In addition to being a smart and interesting guy, it turns out that Rich is also a great writer and quite the rock and roll aficionado. In his note, he shared with me one more leadership story about Springsteen and a lesson from the Beatles about getting the right people on the bus.

So, with his permission, and in his own words, here’s Rich Beach with two really cool leadership lessons from the history of rock and roll.  Thanks Rich!

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. (I spent a lot of time watching TV, period.)  They used to have a segment on the show called “Peabody’s Improbable History,” in which the highly intelligent talking dog, Mr. Peabody, and his boy, Sherman would use their WABAC machine to travel back in time. The events of this past weekend took me way back to my childhood in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In thinking about them, I learned a little bit about more about how some of the things that happened back then shaped me as an adult and a leader. In particular, I’m talking about the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, the death of TV anchorman Walter Cronkite and the completely improbable (Mr. Peabody would have loved it) performance of 59 year old Tom Watson at the British Open.

So, jump into the WABAC machine with me for a few minutes and let’s see what we can learn.

Give those URLs a trim ... Show your e-mail skills by avoiding supersize attachments ... Use the subject line to identify different categories of e-mail ... Feel more rejuvenated after a summer vacation by coming home on a Saturday ...

Wear your heart on your sleeve: Emphasize with customers’ deep-seated concerns by moving from passion to compassion in marketing ... Educate managers with faster, more specific training: The trend is to pick up tailored programs offered by consultancies ... Move beyond traditional risk-management to lead your company through faster times.

It’s tough to admit that your plan isn’t working and hand the project to someone else. But don’t be afraid to delegate to skilled employees who think differently than you do. It can be the greatest sign of leadership to know when to step aside.

This month's collection of real-world quick tips from American business leaders, brought to you by members of The Alternative Board.

For the past several months, the New York Times has been running interviews on leadership with the CEO’s of well known organizations. They’re almost always interesting. Sometimes I agree with the points they make, sometimes I learn something new and, honestly, sometimes I find myself wondering, “How did this person become a CEO?” The latest Times interview subject is Dave Novak, CEO of Yum Brands. I think it’s the best one in the series so far.

To counteract the karma of my last post about how terrible leadership helped blow up AIG, I thought I’d share ten thoughts from Dave Novak on how to be a great leader along with a tip from me on how to follow through on that thought. The bold face points are direct quotes from Novak, my accompanying tip is in plain face type:

As a 48 year old, I am too young to have a first hand recollection of the role that former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara played in shaping the Vietnam War.  As a student of leadership and history, I’ve been fascinated to read the many different obituaries, articles and editorials that have been written about the man since he died earlier this week. They range from sympathetic (as an example, see this interview with George McGovern on Politico ) to reflective (for instance, David Ignatius’ column in the Washington Post to angry (Bob Herbert’s column in the New York Times is one example).

Of all the articles I’ve read on McNamara, the most comprehensive is the front page piece by Thomas Lippman in the Washington Post. With respect and acknowledgment to those who experienced Vietnam as young adults, here are a few lessons that I’ve picked up from the life of Robert McNamara that I think leaders should keep in mind.

Asked to look back over 30 years in the context of our tumultuous times, Jim Collins, author of the best-sellers Good to Great and Built to Last, offers these thoughts about where we find ourselves and how to proceed.

The latest Leadership Lessons podcast interview is guaranteed to go well with your grande Caramel Macchiato. My guest is Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks Coffee Company. His book, It's Not About the Coffee  is out in paperback with a new preface on leading in hard times and is available on Amazon.com.

Howard brings a unique perspective on leadership to our conversation. He joined Starbucks in 1989 as its VP of sales and operations when the company had 28 stores in the Pacific Northwest.  When he retired as president in 2003, Starbucks was a ubiquitous global brand. He continued to play a role in the company’s strategy as a member of the board of directors until 2008. 

How can you be assured of enough face time with your boss to ask questions, convey critical information and dazzle her with your smarts—without coming across as a time drain? The key, advises author and workplace columnist Anita Bruzzese, is to be aware of what your boss wants and when and how she wants it.

Everyone in the financial world is stepping back and asking, “What am I supposed to be learning from this?” So says Scott Eblin, who interviewed financial-sector leaders in March for a senior executive client. The leaders had taken away four lessons ...

By now, pretty much everyone has heard of the elevator speech.  You know the drill, describe what you’re working on, why it matters and what the other person can do to help in 60 seconds or less.  I’ve read lately that the Tweet is the new elevator speech.  Can you describe what you’re working and why it’s important in 140 characters or less?  It’s all about the idea behind the famous line from T.S. Eliot, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”  It takes time and effort to boil down the essence of what you’re trying to do to a short and memorable idea.

We look in mirrors every day. They give us a reflection of ourselves. But what about our inner selves—our attitudes and thoughts? How often do we look there? True leaders look inward every day and take stock of themselves. As simple as it sounds, it’s the step most overlooked by managers in their journey to becoming leaders ...

In 1970, the CEO of Tektronix, a firm based in Oregon and renowned for its measurement and monitoring technology, sat at a desk in the main workspace. When needing privacy, he and any other staff members could use a small, glass-windowed office in full view. His approachability helped the team click.

With employees fretting about layoffs, or reeling from recent workplace cuts, now’s a great time for team-building. You don’t need an expensive round of paintball to gain the benefits of team-building exercises. But you do need to squeeze the most out of them.

Managers and employees have opposing views of privacy when it comes to employees’ off-duty postings on social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. In a recent Deloitte survey, 60% of executives said they have a right to know how employees portray their companies online, but 53% of workers said their off-duty posts are none of their employers’ business.

Regular readers of this blog and anyone who’s heard me deliver a presentation lately  know that I am a huge fan of Tiger Woods.  His level of focus and commitment to continuous improvement are great examples for leaders.  So, I was mildly bummed when Tiger wasn’t able to overcome an 11 shot deficit and ended up finishing four shots behind the winner of the U.S. Open this past weekend.

You’re not tuning into this blog for a sports report, however, so it’s fair to ask, “What’s the point on leadership?”  Well, sometimes we can learn as much from less than perfect examples as we can from the perfect ones.  Tiger provided us with a couple of those at Bethpage Black last weekend.

My goal this morning is to leave you with some food for thought over the next few days.  This has been a week when I’ve had the opportunity to coach leaders in a number of different situations and settings.  I’ve been impressed and humbled in each instance by the conscious nature of leadership that I’ve seen.  My main contribution has been to frame up some questions and create some space for the leaders to observe themselves and determine what their next moves should be.  I thought I’d share some of those questions with you today.

Do any of these statements sound familiar? “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done correctly.” “I can do it better (or faster) than anyone on my staff.” “My employees are already so busy.” All of them indicate that a manager is struggling to overcome roadblocks to becoming an effective delegator. (To find out whether you’re an effective delegator, take the quiz below.)

Catch a second wind by tackling a task on your “Mind Like Mush” list ... Is your boss an ‘allergic-to-details’ type? Keep project files handy that contain details he or she is likely to need ... Find travel deals by booking later ... Spruce up your administrative “portfolio” by adding a dash of visual material.

Here’s an important reminder to managers and supervisors who interview candidates and use subjective characteristics to make hiring and promotion decisions: They’d better be able to explain exactly what led them to make the decisions they made. Interviewers should keep careful notes, including the specific questions they asked, as well as how the candidate answered the question.

Employees everywhere are tapping their professional networks, as they look for new jobs or prepare for the possibility of a pink slip. The good news is that a number of strong associations already exist and can offer a string of networking benefits. Here are a few tips for

Gayle Igarashi, a secretary at Maluhia Hospital in Honolulu, was forever changed the moment she saw stroke patients, who’d lost the ability to speak, interacting with one of her therapy dogs. Seeing how patients connected with the animals and how it comforted them led Igarashi to launch her “Tails of Aloha” animal therapy program.

A couple of days ago, I put out a question to my LinkedIn network on the best conferences for plugging in to fresh thinking on innovation and leadership.  The answers are still coming in, but so far the overwhelming favorite is the series of conferences known as TED. If you’re not familiar with TED, the good news is that the organizers have a very robust web site with dozens of videos of their best speakers online.

I’ve been spending some time browsing the site and one of my favorites is a four and a half minute clip of advertising exec and expert rock climber Matthew Childs talking about nine lessons he’s learned from rock climbing.  I’m not a rock climber myself (although I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve scaled the 40 foot high rock climbing wall at a local sporting goods store.  Kind of like staying at a Holiday Inn Express last night.), but I appreciated the applicability of Childs’ lessons to leadership in general.

Here are five of my favorites from Childs’ TED talk:

Face tough issues early to avoid being viewed as a lie-back-and-wait leader ... Rein in marketing budgets and spur creativity with a competitive “jump ball,” as Wal-Mart is doing ... Take efficiency to a higher level by tapping the expertise of your managers ... Use a threat to gin up innovations.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, there are many good reasons to launch a one-person HR consultancy as the economy sputters. Despite the layoffs and budget cuts, downsized organizations are still hiring HR consultants and contractors to perform a range of basic services.

It may feel like the sky is falling, but if you use emotionally charged words in front of your team members, you will only heighten their fear and panic. Contain the fear by crafting a message that sounds realistic but not hopeless.

You've scrupulously avoided office gossip, but that isn't protecting you from being the subject of this week's chitchat. Wanting to jump quickly to your own defense is a normal reaction, but it might exacerbate the situation. Follow these steps to salvage your reputation and stop the gossip.

More than half of senior executives say they’re interrupted about once every 30 minutes, according to a Center for Creative Leadership survey. Here’s where assistants can play a vital role. Stave off interruptions by partnering with your boss, using these tactics.

Years ago, when I was a corporate executive myself, I read and re-read Kevin Cashman’s Leadership from the Inside Out.  (A second edition has recently been released which I encourage you to buy.)  With its emphasis on the leader as a whole person, Kevin’s book really helped me get up on the balcony and look at the bigger picture of what I was trying to do, what really mattered and how I need to show up to make all of that more likely.  The time I spent with Leadership from the Inside Out had a lot to do with why I became an executive coach eight and a half years ago.  As Kevin would say, coaching is my “sweet spot.”

So, being such a fan of Kevin’s work, you can imagine how happy I was to hear him deliver the keynote presentation last week at the annual meeting of the Washington, DC chapter of the International Coach Federation.  He did not disappoint.  In his talk, Kevin shared 11 things he’s learned in 30 years of coaching leaders.  It was all good, but here are a few of his points that hit home with me that I want to share with you:

Question: I can’t seem to get promoted, even though I am well-qualified. My performance evaluations are excellent, and I have received numerous awards. The company posts promotional opportunities so that anyone can apply, but the “winning” applicant always seems to have been selected in advance. Obviously, politics plays a great part in these selections, and I am not a political person. I do interact with people, but I just don’t do it with an agenda in mind. How can I get ahead? —  No Way Out

The baby of the family may get the most attention, but the oldest gets the cash. That’s the message of a CareerBuilder survey that found employees who were firstborn in their families were more likely to earn $100,000 or more annually compared to their siblings.

My friend, Dan McCarthy of the Great Leadership Blog (Dan just gives, gives, gives and never takes.), is hosting his monthly Leadership Carnival with the wit and/or wisdom of more than 30 leadership bloggers including yours truly.

Given the economic crisis, do a quick audit of the financial people working for you to see who are best equipped to operate in a pressure-cooker. Consider their disposition toward others and their ability to lead, not just their proficiency with spreadsheets.

Last week I was coaching a group of high-potential leaders moving up to the executive level. Our topic was “organizational presence,” which was on point since many of these folks are working on expanding their networks beyond their immediate areas of responsibility. 

When I lead a group coaching session, I like to have everyone share examples of what they’re doing to improve their leadership skills in “real life.”  It was striking to hear the results that several leaders were getting by being intentional about asking more questions in meetings. There were two big tips in the stories. Here they are along with a “bonus tip” I shared with the group.

The best way to cultivate passion in your employees is to exude it yourself. If you love what you’re doing and express your enthusiasm, others will follow your lead.

Ford’s new chief executive, Alan Mulally, was mocked in 2006 for gathering more than 400 bankers into a ballroom and asking them to mortgage the company’s assets to pay for an overhaul of the carmaker. The cash, he said, would give Ford “a cushion to protect for a recession or other unexpected event.” Here are some take-away lessons from this forward-thinking leader:

The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor has sparked an interesting public discussion on the place of empathy in the justice system.  As usual, there are people lining up on the left and the right to argue for or against empathy playing a role in forming the opinions of a judge.

When people are engaged in a debate on a word, I think it’s usually a good idea to first look up the definition of that word. 

Even though it’s a cliché, our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses. For Thomas Jefferson, his strength lay in trusting people, but—especially when it came to financial matters—he trusted them too much. To use the signature phrase of a much later president, Ronald Reagan, Jefferson needed to “trust but verify.”

Surveys of U.S. workers consistently show that employees want more than a paycheck from their jobs—they want to feel safe, secure and appreciated at work. Here are eight guidelines for recognizing and rewarding employees, according to an Adecco management report.

If you skew a little bit “old school,” you probably remember a series of TV ads for Dunkin’ Donuts that featured a shop manager who wearily woke up at 3:00 am every day with the mordant refrain, “Time to make the donuts.”  My wife recently saw a bumper sticker with the (edited here for public consumption) phrase, “Freakin’ Donuts.”  If you’re old enough to remember, then you’re in on the joke.  Sometimes life can feel like it’s just one more day of making the donuts.

I find this happens when you get overly focused on the tasks that stack up in front of you.  All those donuts can cause you to lose sight of the bigger purpose and picture.  Leaders (and I definitely include myself here), need to pull the lens back on a regular basis and ask themselves, “What really matters to me?”  Getting clear on your answers to that question can help you clarify your priorities and even come up with some innovative ways to address them.

So, how did I come up with this point and why am I bringing it up now?  Well, it so happens that I’m married to a really excellent coach named Diane who asked me last night to make a list of the things that matter to me.  Once we covered the basics (e.g. strong marriage, healthy kids, food and shelter), I moved on to other things that matter to me.  Since I’m a leadership coach, one of the obvious answers is leadership.  But, if you think about it, good leadership is a means to an end.  So, Diane kept asking, “What else matters to you?”  Here’s my list:

Pulled from the pages of HR Specialist newsletters, here are five practical, workplace-proven tips for you to try. From management advice to hiring innovations, they'll help you work smarter and more productively.

In 1972, Joan Winston was a key organizer of the first Star Trek convention, which attracted 3,000 fanatics to New York. With no “information superhighway” yet in place, Winston picked her way through an information jungle, creating an industry.

As an executive coach and someone who spends a lot of my time trying to figure out how leaders can be more effective, you can imagine how excited I was to learn that there is all kinds of new data out on employee satisfaction in the federal government. The Partnership for Public Service has released the results of its biannual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government report. Being the total leadership geek that I am, it’s been a lot of fun for me to get online and sort through the 74 employee survey questions that the study is based upon. What’s even more fun for me is the direct comparison between the public and private sectors on 13 benchmark questions from the Best Places to Work studies.

(I know what you’re thinking.  “Wow, he needs to find a hobby or something.”  You may be right, but hang with me as I’m getting to the really good stuff.)

The level of public discourse and obvious self interest on the part of people in leadership positions can be pretty discouraging. Oftentimes, it seems like the first instinct of leaders under pressure is to call names, deny responsibility and look out only for their self interest. It literally seems childish.

On the other hand, we sometimes have the privilege of seeing leaders in action who demonstrate maturity through reasoned, principled responses and generally acting like grown-ups should act. Over the past week, I’ve noticed three public sector leaders who have done that. There are some basic principles these leaders demonstrated that I think all leaders should strive to emulate.

If you’re in a management role, make sure you “onboard” new hires. You’ll benefit from more engaged, productive employees who want to stay and be committed to the company. Try these three simple ideas:

At PCL Construction in Denver, employees decide which wellness programs the organization will offer. Employee-run wellness committees at each corporate location focus on physical, financial and community wellness, as well as team building.

In tough economic times, it’s critical to remember the new rules of the workplace, says communication and leadership coach Peggy Klaus. Consider these three rules:

Seeking radical change in your organization? Be revolutionary. While managers believe in distributing information, rebels realize that emotions of pride and anger can move a group of people forward.

Readers in the Washington, DC area are probably familiar with the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.  The latest edition took place over the weekend.  Often described as DC’s version of the senior prom, the dinner is an opportunity for journalists and politicians to dress up, make jokes at each other’s expense and to gawk at all of the celebrity guests that are invited by different media organizations. In addition to the biggest celebrity, the President, the guest list included Eva Longoria Parker, Sting, Natalie Portman, Steven Spielberg and Jon Bon Jovi. 

No doubt, there were some interesting conversations going on and, as you can see on this You Tube clip, the president delivered a pretty funny stand-up comedy routine.

Recently, workplace expert Tory Johnson was interviewed about how women can succeed in a challenging job market (smartblogs.com/workforce). She talked about what she believes is the biggest challenge for female managers, but the advice could easily apply to anyone. Here’s what she said:

When Benjamin Franklin began to put together a public library in Philadelphia, he needed the help of many friends. Instead of claiming the idea, he presented it as a collaborative effort, expediting the process. Franklin emphasized this simple strategy for leadership: Don’t worry about who gets credit.

With more talent chasing fewer jobs, especially in the financial sector, it can’t hurt to freshen up your résumé and look around. For starters, brace yourself: MBAs, to give one example, are flooding the market. Recruiters receive 50 to 60 résumés per opening where they used to get 10 to 20, so concentrate on showing how you contributed to the bottom line.

Recently, workplace expert Tory Johnson was interviewed about how women can succeed in a challenging job market. She talked about what she believes is the biggest challenge for female managers, but the advice could easily apply to anyone.

Admin Brooke Wiseman knew that administrative professionals in her company weren’t being used in the most productive ways. For example, some shared the same title but had wide variations in duties. Her goal was to bring more value to the company by turbocharging the partnerships between executives and their assistants. Here’s how she did it.

The latest Leadership Lessons podcast features the insights of Kimball Hall, a terrific young executive at Amgen, a Fortune 500 leader in biotechnology based human therapeutics.  Kimball is the site manager for the 1,000 employee Amgen facility in Providence, RI where her team manufactures Enbrel, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

In our conversation, Kimball talks about what she’s learned in making the transition from an individual contributor focused on microbiology to an executive with responsibility for a 24x7 operation manufacturing a critical product. In addition to her role within Amgen, Kimball serves on the boards of a number of statewide organizations supporting the economic development of Rhode Island.    In our talk, she reflects on how her internal and external roles have shaped her as a leader.

The financial crisis means managers and executives, now more than ever, need to hone their leadership skills. Here are the top qualities of a leader, no matter what field you're in, your size or the condition of your balance sheet.

Everyone’s talking about President Obama’s first 100 days and how he’s doing so far.  Since Obama is the ultimate case of a leader moving up to the next level, I thought I’d add my assessment by offering a report card on his performance as measured against the Next Level model of executive presence.  As outlined in my book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success, and summarized in the table below, executive leadership presence can be broken down into nine behavioral distinctions that leaders need to either pick up or let go of.  And those nine distinctions match up with three big categories of executive leadership behaviors: personal presence, team presence and organizational presence.

So, how is the President doing after his first 100 days of leading at the next level?  Read on for a point by point breakdown and an overall GPA.

One of the basics in the senior leader’s communications repertoire is the town hall meeting.  Sometimes (oftentimes?), these meetings can really run off the rails.  When they do, it’s usually because the leader comes in without the answers that people care most about.  Another classic mistake is to come in with the desired information but to deliver it in a way that shows no connection whatsoever with the people in the audience.

Fortunately for all of us, there aren’t many town hall meetings on the subject of what leaders are doing  to prevent a global pandemic of influenza.  But, that’s exactly what three senior leaders took on in front of the White House press corps that Sunday afternoon.  To share what the government is doing to deal with the rapidly developing outbreak of a new strain of swine flu, homeland security advisor John Brennan, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control Richard Besser and Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano took to the airwaves.  By chance, I watched it on CNN as it happened and I have to say it was a best practice example of how to conduct a town hall meeting.  (If you missed the briefing, you can watch it here. If you want more information on swine flu and how to stay healthy, visit the CDC website here. In about 20 minutes, these government leaders showed how it should be done when it comes to the what and how of conducting a successful town hall meeting.

Here’s what I saw in their briefing and what leaders can learn from their example.

Shumeet Banerji, chief of the reformulated consulting firm Booz & Co., says, “I don’t believe that leadership is innate, and neither does the firm,” he says. “We believe it can be learned."

There’s leadership magic in a company that turns kitchen helpers into millionaires. The evidence is in Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s, a compendium of simple wisdom by Paul Facella, who started working at Mickey D’s as a teenager and retired as a regional vice president.

Last week, I had the honor of keynoting the annual Executive Fire Officer Program graduate symposium sponsored by the U.S. Fire Administration.  One of the things I sometimes do is ask members of my audience what they think about an important question and then share their answers with you.

The top qualities you can develop as a leader, says a former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, are decisiveness, integrity, respect, diversity, trust and performance.

Trying to explain why your company or industry is a mess? Spare them the “perfect storm” metaphor.

True leadership is less about raw talent than expertise. So says Malcolm Gladwell, the business and science guru. Here’s his take on expertise: Real leaders aren’t just “naturals.” They are masters who have slaved at their craft for 10 years. “And what’s 10 years?” Gladwell asks. “Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in 10,000 hours of hard practice."

Looking for some clear lessons in productive ways to receive feedback?  Or, conversely, some excellent examples of how not to receive feedback?  Well, if you are, there’s this TV show that runs on Tuesday nights that is full of examples on both sides of the equation.  You may have heard of it.  It’s something I like to call American Idol.

OK, before you bail on me and think I’ve become a total pop culture bubblehead, let me explain myself.  Yes, I will acknowledge that Idol is one of my guilty pleasures. (After all, man cannot live by the Harvard Business Review alone. )  That said, if you watch it with a bit of a leadership development lens on, you can actually learn a lot about what talented people do or don’t do with constructive feedback.

I’ve identified at least six models for receiving feedback from watching the show.  Two of them are worth emulating and four need to be avoided at all cost.  Interested in which one might apply to you or some of the people on your team?  Read on.

Whatever you do, don’t cancel a meeting because of a tightened budget. Employees and customers need to see the leadership team standing in front of them, sending a “we’re in this together” message.

While cleaning out his attic, a British business leader stumbled upon some notes on leadership from the ’50s. The notes were handed out at Eaton Hall near Chester, England, during his military officer training. Dated in tone but clear, concise and purposeful, the notes transcend their original military context.

Discrimination at work is perfectly legal in some countries, and foreign-born managers and executives who work for U.S. employers may sometimes say things that show ignorance of U.S. laws. Those words can come back to haunt an employer that is sued for age discrimination.

It was a humdinger of a finish to the New York Giants-Cincinnati Bengals football game last fall, particularly at the two-minute warning. What you would not have seen is the leadership that brought the scene to your TV. Back in a windowless production trailer making it happen was CBS crew director Bob “Fish” Fishman.

It hasn’t been much fun at a whole lot of workplaces lately. Half an hour into a meeting, one CEO asked, “Are we having fun yet? In the past 24 hours, who’s had the worst business experience?” As they joked about each horror story, the tension lifted.

One thing is for sure about living in 2009. You don’t have to look very hard to find examples of what happens when people lose their grip on the boundaries that previously brought order to their lives.  Let’s take a look at a few examples that range from the seemingly ridiculous to the very serious to see what the common denominator lessons might be.

Say a deadly listeria outbreak is traced back to a food plant you own. How do you handle the crisis? CEO Michael McCain of Maple Leaf Foods faced that challenge when an outbreak of listeria led to several deaths. Despite the grim events, McCain was named CEO of the year for 2008 by the Canadian Press.

This past Sunday was one of the rare ones when I had the chance to watch all of Meet the Press.  After such a big week of news (let’s just throw in a North Korean missile launch for good measure), I was looking forward to the show.  In particular, I was interested to see the interview with the newly appointed CEO of General Motors, the 25 year company veteran, Fritz Henderson.

Sorry to say, but Fritz did not pass the “Mom believability test.”  You probably have your own version of that.  It’s when, as I did Sunday night, you call your mom to catch up on what’s going on in the family and the world.  Like me, my mom had watched Henderson on MTP.  Her verdict?  “He was terrible.  He didn’t answer any of the questions.”  Nothing quite like cutting to the chase.

So, what can we learn from Henderson and the situation at GM about matching leadership styles with the demands of the situation?

With so many things in play, it’s easy to lose track of all the major issues the Obama White House is dealing with. Today the focus is on the global economy and the G20 meeting. A few days earlier it was on establishing a new approach for taking on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Afpak). From the standpoint of media coverage and public attention, a quiet, but key, architect of the new Afpak policy has been Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

As the New York Times reported yesterday, Gates has now worked for eight U.S. presidents including Obama’s immediate predecessor, George W. Bush. Since leaders often have to work with a new boss (is there anyone at GM reading this?), I thought it would be interesting to see what tips can be gleaned from Gates on how to establish yourself quickly with a new boss while making a significant difference in a short amount of time.

Are you a situational leader or an emotional leader? Situational leadership depends on the kind of direction and support each of your followers needs. Emotional leadership is situational, too, but based more on the theory of emotional intelligences than on the level of your involvement ...

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger made his leadership clear when he landed a plane intact on the Hudson River in January, saving 155 lives. While “the miracle on the Hudson” did seem miraculous, it was mainly the result of preparation and a cool head. Lesson: Stretch as far as you can to prepare to lead when disaster strikes.

Dealing with underachievers requires using your judgment and some knowledge of human psychology. Here are some ways to get your underachieving employees moving in the right direction.

A good wellness program can spur employees to ditch unhealthy behaviors, reducing their health care costs and helping them work more productively. But that’s only if they participate. Here are four ways your organization can bolster participation by improving the way it communicates wellness to employees.

As a group CEO of Italy’s UniCredit Bank, Roberto Nicastro is fairly young, at fortysomething, to hold such a position. In recent years, Nicastro helped the bank embark on an aggressive international expansion. But he also realized that he felt as though he were riding a roller coaster and might be sacrificing his life to the company ...

Take this quiz if you want to assess your fitness at the top job. By answering yes or no, you can pinpoint your strong or weak points and make improvements.

Texan oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, the 80-year-old who made a fortune on huge gambles, is placing his biggest bet yet. The trillion-dollar Pickens Plan would break U.S. dependence on foreign oil by developing wind and natural gas as native sources of energy.

Leading is not about personality—it’s about action, say leadership researchers James Kouzes and Barry Posner, who have analyzed the work of thousands of leadership experiences. Almost every case of leadership follows the same five practices.

Yale psychologists, back in 1990, found that the ability to think dispassionately about your own passions is linked with success. This finding opened up a whole new field: emotional intelligence.

Martyn Lewis, founder, president, and CEO of Market-Partners and author of Sales Wise: A Journey through Sales and Selling, shares these myths about sales — and the realities behind what creates truly effective sales lead generation:

It pays to give more than lip service to the Web 2.0 trend, with its emphasis on trust and openness. Just look at Cisco Systems. All decisions at Cisco used to be made by the top 10 people in the company, says CEO John Chambers. Today, he is spreading the company’s leadership and decision-making far wider than before.

Half of all employees still haven’t heard from their leaders about the impact of the economic crisis, and more than two-thirds say they’d rather hear something than nothing, reports a survey by Weber Shandwick. And 70% fear their companies are in for rough sledding. Here’s how you can calm the troops.

As health insurance costs skyrocket, even as benefits dwindle, so does the trend toward employers setting up wellness programs—71% of U.S. employers offered such programs in 2008. Is your office ready to be a part of the wellness movement? Here’s how to make the case to leadership and take some initial steps.

Collaboration works, until it starts to resemble groupthink. That’s when healthy dissent evaporates, self-defeating tendencies surge, and negative emotions corrode the potential of the group’s work. Make sure your team is working more like the Manhattan Project and less like Enron. Three team management tips:

Pump up your managers with useful research they don’t have time to do themselves ... Sharpen your workplace instincts by playing The Office-Politics Game ... Soothe stress by first dividing triggers into two categories ...

An old blog post about greed really pointed the way to the condition the economy is in right now. Almost two years ago, when the rest of the business world was still go-go-go, the Slow Leadership movement founded by retired corporate executive Adrian Savage warned against short-term decisions driven by greed.

Work/life benefits can help take the edge off employee stress during a time when people fear their jobs aren’t secure and managers are pressing workers to produce more with less. Still, it’s especially important during an economic downturn for organizations to limit benefits to those that will help them meet their bottom-line goals.

In his new e-book, How to Sell More in a Down Market: The Leadership Secrets of Dynamite Sales Results, Randy Goruk neatly sums up what leaders know ...

The three leadership skills required now are agility, communication and decisiveness, says Clarke Murphy, who heads the CEO search practice for Russell Reynolds.

Layoffs put retention on shaky ground at precisely the time that remaining employees' loyalty is key to your organization's success. Ignoring that "survivor syndrome" will only cripple morale further and generate more turnover. Communication is the key to overcoming it. Here's how:

You may not realize it, but many small business owners adopt war principles to lead their companies to higher profits. Think about it:

Even in his youth, Ulysses S. Grant picked his battles. Arriving at West Point to study, he decided against arguing with the adjutant about his own name (actually Hiram Ulysses) and accepted the name given to him in a mix-up, realizing it would serve him better than the initials H.U.G.

Until his death this fall at age 93, Robert Furman’s leadership in building the Pentagon and developing the atomic bomb remained virtually unknown. “He was the guy who actually handled all this stuff,” writes one historian. “He was extremely young, and he had extraordinary power.” Here’s what this one guy accomplished.

The turnover rate is high at your company. You’re even conducting exit interviews with every departing employee to find out what’s going on, but nobody talks. Chances are you’ve got some bad bosses. Maybe even some bullies. Only recently have scientists started looking at why cruel bosses thrive.

Not everybody is ready to step up, so congratulations if you have done so. Here are a few guiding principles on building loyalty and trust.

As nations wrestle with managing their natural resources to produce food and energy, agricultural firms have come in for some big changes. These shifts—including environmental issues and rising food costs—demand leadership. Minnesota-based agribusiness Cargill is trying to rise to the occasion.

The latest trend in workplace training may be “in the moment coaching.” It challenges employees to stay focused so they don’t leave meetings or conversations wondering what just happened. Staying in the moment keeps our minds from drifting, so we can really listen and retain critical information.

Your boss’s gender can affect just how much pain he or she seems to inflict. Researchers at the University of Toronto compared men and women working in one of three situations: (1) for a lone male supervisor, (2) for a lone female supervisor, or (3) for both a male and a female supervisor.

You've been put in charge of planning team-building exercises for your eight-person team. To get you started, here are a few ideas from readers of the Admin Pro Forum.

Money can buy happiness, as long as you spend it on someone else, according to recent studies. One of the studies has implications for leaders striving for happier employees ...

The president of San Ramon, Calif.-based engineering firm Engeo always leaves his door open. In fact, the organization practices “servant leadership,” which puts the president on the bottom of the organizational chart and tasks him with serving the employees.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs announced this week that he'll take a leave of absence until the end of June for health reasons. The news raised serious questions about the company's succession plan -- and provided a good lesson for your organization ...

When President-elect Barack Obama chose Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, he did what a senior executive does when choosing an assistant: He selected a person who would help him get things done. Are you like Rahm Emanuel?

Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull exemplifies the greatest form of leadership: He resists the limelight and instead empowers others to achieve the extraordinary. For proof, look no further than Pixar’s nine blockbuster computer-animated films, beginning with “Toy Story” in 1995 ...

At Florida-based Baptist Hospital, the CEO declared an all-out war on turnovers, pulling out all the stops to tear down typical corporate walls and retain his best workers. That CEO is one of the corporate leaders who “gets it,” according to Greg Smith, author of 401 Proven Ways to Retain Your Best Employees.

Train new employees for four weeks, then offer them $1,000 to quit? Sounds like a crazy way to run a business. The bribe is one way online shoe retailer Zappos ensures that its employees have the commitment and energy needed to make this customer-obsessed organization succeed.

Only one in 10 workers looks forward to work, and most say the lack of leadership is why, according to a Maritz Research survey last year. That doesn’t have to happen. Here are seven ways to get across your vision, values and mission.

Business owners often learn that they weren’t adequately prepared for floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters. Admins can help disaster-proof the workplace with these tips

An admin stumbled over how to recognize and reward employees on her team, so she turned to our Admin Pro Forum. Here’s what other admins are doing.

Kathy Walters made many sideways moves, sometimes running different functions for three or four years at a clip. “All this so I could really understand the trade-offs you make in leadership,” says Walters, an executive vice president at Georgia-Pacific.

Kate believes the meeting is a huge waste of time because colleagues always ramble on when it’s their turn to speak, and there’s no real structure to the gathering. At this point, says family and divorce lawyer-mediator Laurie Puhn, Kate can handle this situation in two ways. One is a communication blunder; the other a communication wonder.

When IBM’s Robert W. Moffat Jr. led the company’s personal-computer business, he had an unusual leadership tool: a “reverse mentor,” Inhi Cho, a rising midlevel manager.

You need both common sense and humility to send your people into the unknown. Adapt this 10-point checklist to keep them moving forward:

Any organization, regardless of size, will do better in most instances by cultivating leaders from within. Employees who are properly engaged, developed, promoted and compensated will be poached less often, and if they’re well trained, they will have knowledge and instincts no one from the outside can match ...

You may know the pride and thrill of playing with OPM—other people’s money. In 2008, Freddie Mac and its former CEO, Richard Syron, gave an example in how not to play the game--and a lesson in leadership...

Vision can be tough to come by. You need to know where you’ve come from, whom you admire and what you value. What matters most and what are you determined to accomplish? Meet these criteria and you’re there.

Bernard Pettis, who is black, worked for R.R. Donnelley as a materials handler, loading skids for press operator Tim Cain. Whenever Cain, who is white, helped Pettis seal the skids, he would smash Pettis’ hands under the top board, then laugh and tell co-workers, “I got his hands,” or “Ooh, look at him.”

As a child, Helen Greiner became captivated with R2-D2 in “Star Wars.” When she discovered that the little robot was only an actor in a can, she vowed to make it come alive. Greiner has kept her vow with iRobot, the company she co-founded that supplied PackBots to search the World Trade Center ruins and later to detect bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As health insurance costs skyrocket, even as benefits dwindle, so does the trend toward employers setting up wellness programs—71% of U.S. employers offered such programs in 2008. Here’s how to make the case for establishing a wellness program in your workplace, plus initial steps to put the plan in motion.

Scores of organizations are looking for the next big thing. But in a survey of 247 senior executives, only 50% believe their organizations are “top in class” in innovation. How can you drive higher levels of innovation? For starters, look toward experts in the field ...

In case you were clinging to the idea that leaders fly solo, new evidence indicates they don’t. Research shows that leadership teams are four times as important as individual leaders in developing strategy.

Most leaders think strategy drives leadership. “The fact is, culture eats strategy for lunch,” says Dick Clark, who took over the pharmaceutical firm Merck in 2005 and discovered an insular, ivory tower culture ...

Sometimes, employees who do great at one job lay an egg when promoted up the org chart. When that happens, and you find you have to terminate the employee, be sure to document exactly what went wrong. Otherwise, the employee may sue, claiming some sort of discrimination ...

Greg Brenneman prefers to work for “sick” companies, or the ones in need of the most leadership. His corporate turnaround strategy sounds deceptively simple ...

If you’re contemplating a layoff, you’ve no doubt given some thought to which employees you want to let go—and which ones you absolutely must retain. But know this: Every time an organization lays off even a few employees, voluntary turnover jumps in response ...

Front-line managers are often dropped into management roles without knowing how to manage people or where to turn for advice. Yet, these are the people tasked with making customers and employees happy, and carrying out the organization's mission ...

Chiefly, you learn how to make decisions by doing. But you can also learn, says Michael Useem, director of Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management, by approaching people who are good at it, watching how they do it and asking them to reconstruct the process.

You expect your managers to possess basic values, communicate clearly and act like responsible adults. But sometimes, you get a bad apple. If you’re regretting a management hire, first judge the degree of badness. A “continuum of badness” has been developed to help you.

Leadership requires hard work, daily practice and a willingness to stumble and haul yourself back into the game. Here are three component parts of leadership from established trainers.

Many commentators have noted uncanny similarities between the Wall Street panics of 1907 and 2008. But one big difference stands out: In 1907, there was no Federal Reserve System or U.S. government presence. Into this vacuum stepped J.P. Morgan ...

Question: What 10 two-letter words sum up leadership?

Leadership guru Warren Bennis has strong words for top executives who fail to accept responsibility but who excel at placing blame elsewhere. When Lehman Brothers’ CEO Richard Fuld Jr. testified before a congressional panel about the bank’s downfall, he claimed to take “full responsibility” for his actions—but then he passed the buck ...

Q. How do I make my manager understand that I want more responsibility?

With exposure to catastrophes increasing, researchers are looking at ways to sharpen our response mechanisms, activate our leadership abilities and increase our odds for survival. During a disaster, survivors say almost nothing happened the way they would have expected. Here’s what we can glean from their experiences.

To make customers feel practically giddy about your company, begin by serving employees. That’s the philosophy of Colleen Barrett, president of Southwest Airlines, a company whose feel-good approach to customer service is legendary.

Leadership thinker Steven Little performs a test during hotel stays. He asks room service for a milkshake. If he’s told it’s not on the menu, he walks employees through the list of ingredients to see if they have everything. Here's why ...

When co-workers behave badly at work, step forward to develop your leadership skills.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) grants service members re-employment rights when they notify their employers of their intent to return to work after being released from active duty. But what happens when an employer finds that its business needs have changed while the employee was on active duty? ...

It doesn’t have to be lonely at the top, says leadership guru John C. Maxwell. Sure, you might be lonely there. So are people all along the organizational chart. Loneliness comes from personality, not position. To illustrate, here’s a story.

Demonstrating best-practices leadership means finding new ways to reinvigorate your team and boost their performance. Here are four techniques for boosting your team management skills and maximizing your team’s performance.

Employees can save between 5% and 20% on their home and car insurance if they buy it through your organization’s voluntary benefits program. That can be a welcome relief to an employee whose health insurance premiums are steadily increasing, and a way for employers to give workers a break on another necessary expense ...

If you work for a large organization, get ready to fight with small ones for your employees. If you work for a small organization, get ready to spend more on the pay and benefits that will lure big-company stars over to your shop ...

If you work for a large organization, get ready to fight with small ones for your employees. If you work for a small organization, get ready to spend more on the pay and benefits that will lure big-company stars over to your shop ...

The former president of South Africa who ended apartheid there, Nelson Mandela, has an African first name, Rolihlahla, which translates literally as “pulling down a tree branch.” What that actually means is “troublemaker.” Mandela’s life means many more things: warrior, activist and statesman. Here are his rules of leadership.

Lorena Ochoa is an unlikely “servant leader.” Yet, that’s the role she plays as the top-ranked woman golfer. Dominating the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour after a series of wins this spring, Ochoa would have every right to start acting like a big-deal golf pro. She doesn’t.

Lose your credibility and you lose your career. Credibility is the most important predictor of an HR professional’s effectiveness, according to the 2007 Human Resource Competency Study (HRCS) by The RBL Group leadership firm. Here are eight key ways to diminish or destroy your credibility ...

Does your organization have a policy requiring employees to retire (or step down to a lesser position) once they hit a certain “unbecoming” age? If so, a groundbreaking $27.5 million EEOC settlement shows that you’d better retire those policies … not the people ...

Some employers use personality or psychological tests to screen applicants and employees being considered for jobs or promotions. Proponents say personality tests are an economical way of screening employees. However, critics argue that these tests might not accurately reflect an individual’s honesty, integrity or other personality traits. Others say the tests violate the employee’s privacy ...

Some employers use personality or psychological tests to screen applicants and employees being considered for jobs or promotions. Proponents say personality tests are an economical way of screening employees. However, critics argue that these tests might not accurately predict an individual’s honesty, integrity or other personality traits. Others say the tests violate the employee’s privacy ...

As your organization shifts more responsibility to employees to manage their own health and retirement expenses, you risk alienating your work force. But it doesn’t have to be that way ...

Only 23% of execs say HR plays a key role in shaping company strategy and affecting operating results, says a new Deloitte survey. The key for you: “Pick a project that impresses executives, impacts the bottom line and makes good use of your time,” says Dave Ulrich, co-founder of the RBL Group and a University of Michigan business professor ...

A Houston-based seismic technology and equipment company is facing a nearly $1 million jury verdict as the result of a lawsuit brought by one of its former manufacturing managers. Input/Output terminated Gaines Watkins in 2002 when he was 68 years old, claiming the company was making changes that he was “incapable or unwilling” to implement. Watkins sued, claiming he was fired because he didn’t fit the company’s new youthful image ...

Performance evaluations are important tools to help employers gauge whether employees are performing at expected levels. They can help organizations spot talent and leadership potential, while identifying areas where employees need extra training and support. Evaluations also can protect employers from frivolous lawsuits filed by employees who claim they’ve been demoted, fired or otherwise unfairly treated when the real reason was poor performance ...

When 10 companies asked small groups of employees to figure out how to flex their hours while improving their teams’ productivity, they jumped at the chance. Here are three creative solutions ...

A California jury has awarded more than $300,000 to a former Sonoma State University softball coach who claimed that she was wrongfully fired ....

California’s legislature is moving forward on two “play or pay” bills that would require employers that do not offer cafeteria health plans to their workers to pay into a state-run health plan purchasing pool ...

Efforts to increase diversity and retention form the basis of two programs at New York-based Deloitte & Touche. The Breakthrough Leadership Program identifies about 25 of the company’s top minority professionals who exhibit leadership qualities ...

If subjective criteria like attitude, leadership and being a team player are part of your organization’s employee evaluations, you’d be wise to keep detailed records of customer complaints ...

Although the Workers’ Compensation Reform bill recently signed into law provides just a skeletal outline of what New York’s workers’ comp program will one day look like, both business and labor groups are cautiously optimistic ...

Can’t get your organization’s execs to sit through training sessions because they don’t want to appear vulnerable in public? Want to make sure an up-and-coming manager is ready for the next big promotion? Call an executive coach ...

Nearly 80 percent of the female employees at New York-based KPMG think it’s a great place to work, up from 63 percent in 2004, a company survey shows. Sandra Bushby, director of women’s initiatives, says that’s because of the firm’s “Network of Women”...

Hiring younger workers for entry-level and managerial-trainee jobs poses unique challenges. Because those applicants have little or no experience under their belts, interviewing requires special insights. To predict job success, focus on applicants' maturity level by asking the right questions and looking for certain nonverbal cues ...

Field HR or corporate HR: Neither career path is necessarily better; each has its own challenges and rewards. But there are important differences between the two that influence your career direction. Knowing those distinctions is a key step in any HR job move ...

Your unique vantage point in HR equips you to identify managers with the potential to become company leaders. By sharing your insights with top execs, you'll help build organizational excellence and make yourself more valuable. Use these tips to alert top execs to possible future leaders they might be missing ...

Most people aren't conscious of how they make tough decisions in the workplace. They often go with what feels most expedient at the moment, an approach that can get them into trouble. Instead, it's useful to be aware of these four common clues that can warn you if you're heading in the wrong direction ethically ...

Question: I am the HR Director for a nursing home. I have had several complaints against one of my supervisors from his staff. I have reported a more serious incident to the Administrator and also presented a few other complaints to him. The Administrator confronted the supervisor. The staff has since reported back to me that the supervisor’s attitude has changed toward them, and it makes them uncomfortable and creates an unpleasant working environment.

They do not want me to report him again because of his behavior toward them after the last complaint. And they do not want me to confront their supervisor.

How can I help this department if they do not want me to report him?

I feel that it’s my obligation to these employees to make them feel safe in the workplace and enjoy coming to work each day.  -- Anonymous

Gov. Jeb Bush has launched an initiative to open up more Florida jobs to people with disabilities. The campaign was created with assistance from the Jacksonville City Council, the Greater Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities and the First Coast Business Leadership Network ...

Companies led by CEOs with military experience have outperformed the S&P 500 Index over the past three-, five- and 10-year periods by as much as 20 percentage points, according to a study by executive search firm Korn/Ferry International ...

"If I had known I was going to be in HR so long, I would have started to get serious about the profession sooner." Noted HR expert Michael R. Losey says he's heard this story a number of times. His advice: Get serious about your career now, before it's too late ...

Question: I wish to start a monthly meeting to include as many of the Administrative Assistants throughout the organization as possible. Does anyone have any hints on if monthly meetings are a good idea, if one hour is enough time, etc.?

I envision these meetings not only building relationships among all the assistants, but also giving all assistants an idea of what each area is currently working on and, if they're working on similar projects, allowing them to share feedback. Also, they can update one another on any major process changes in their departments. (We have a problem with one unit deciding to disband some information that is needed for reports, not aware that other departments are counting on it all being located in one place.)  -- Wisconsin

Question: "I need some good employee-appreciation ideas. My company has about 500 employees who work in different departments, and we don't even recognize birthdays! There's so much to be done, but I wanted to get some other points of view first."  -- Looking for ideas in Mississippi

Question: "I co-chair a committee with someone who's unwilling to plan. I'll want to discuss the next meeting or upcoming priorities, and he'll say, 'I can't talk about that right now. Catch me later.' Of course, he doesn't have time 'later,' either.

"How can I force this person to focus?"  -- Jean, Michigan

Question: Has anyone put together a group program for the administrative assistants at their company to promote communication, education, training, etc? I have been asked to organize a quarterly meeting and I need a starting point. If anyone has done this and has suggestions or ideas, I would greatly appreciate the help!  -- Anonymous

Question: Has anyone put together a group program for the administrative assistants at their company to promote communication, education, training, etc? I have been asked to organize a quarterly meeting and I need a starting point. If anyone has done this and has suggestions or ideas, I would greatly appreciate the help!  -- Anonymous

Question: I have a co-worker who is considering applying for an admin job working for someone who she used to support as her secretary. My friend stopped working for this boss because the boss never stood by her, was demanding and expected her to stay long hours. I don't think it's a good idea to go back to the old boss.

The old boss told my friend (in front of the boss's new assistant) that she never got over my friend quitting on her, even though it's been 4 years.

While my friend worked for her, the boss did things such as hide my friend's coat so she couldn't leave the office and would stay late. But the boss is also a good leader. My friend said she really encouraged her to do her best and take classes. She also would do great things like take her out to lunch and give her gifts for her hard work.

What do you all think? Do you think it's a good idea to go back to a boss you didn't like working for?  -- Anonymous

Question: I read Personal Report for the Administrative Professional every month for career and work tips. But what other resources are out there for an ambitious admin who wants to better herself?  -- Josie, Virginia

Question: It's "annual review" time in our office.  Each year, my supervisor asks me to write my own review and then we discuss it before he writes the final version.  Since I know my job so well, I work independently and require no supervision.  One of the questions on the evaluation form asks for "outstanding accomplishment(s) since the last review."  I've been working at the same job for 27 years and am running out of adjectives to describe how great a job I do.  There's nothing "new" to report and I'm concerned that I won't get the raise I think I deserve.  How do you handle your annual evaluation without repeating the same things year after year?  -- Anonymous

Question: “I don’t want to be the office computer expert for the nonprofit organization where I work. I’m tired of helping people who don’t have computer skills. This is a small office, and none of the people asking for help is in my department or in any way associated with what I do. “Most of the time the questions aren’t related to work. They want me to show them how to download pictures of their grandchild from an e-mail or how to rotate an image. They also want me to show them the advanced features of Word, such as mail merge. “I’ve paid my own money to take computer classes. I also obtained an office automation certificate while I was unemployed. I buy books on computer topics and read several magazines. These people don’t do any of these things. “Since I won’t share my computer skills, they’ve tried a slow down. If I need something, they delay or try to ignore my request. What should I do?” -- Anonymous

To astronaut Eileen Collins, leadership consists of four values: technical ability, an understanding of people, openness to new ideas (no big ego allowed), fairness—without even a perception of unfairness.

Apply these leadership tips from Bill Gates.

 Eleanor Roosevelt set the standard for today’s strong, visible first lady. But she had help along the way from at least two mentors.

 Treat failure as temporary setback.

The personal items in your office contribute more to your leadership than you realize. 

Look at people who are doing what you really want to do and ask: “If they’re doing that, why can’t I?” 

“This is your own business,” James Nordstrom tells his employees. “Don’t listen to us in Seattle. Listen to your customer.” 

Leaders often have to break out of the molds other people set for them, says leadership guru Warren Bennis. They have to invent themselves.

Bill Parcells, who has already led three National Football League teams from mediocrity to excellence and is working on his fourth (the Dallas Cowboys), operates on three basic rules:

Sir Ernest Shackleton never did get to walk across the South Pole. The explorer’s huge ego had betrayed him when he set off for Antarctica in the dead of winter, despite warnings. Instead, in January 1915, ice trapped his ship, Endurance, within sight of the goal. In October, the crew abandoned ship, and as they camped on an ice floe, the Endurance sank.

You may think of them as “merely vices,” but succumbing to even one of the seven deadly sins can cripple your ability to lead.