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I saw someone wearing a t-shirt the other day with the kind of snarky comment that I appreciate with my sense of humor. It read: “I don’t suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.” After a chuckle, I wanted to buy this t-shirt to give it to the owners and CEOs of companies…

The original Karate Kid movie was released in 1984, a coming of age story of Daniel, a young man, whose mentor and best friend is an elderly Japanese maintenance man, Mr. Miyagi.  The movie is an excellent blend of teen angst, Asian wisdom, and martial arts. One of my favorite scenes is when Mr. Miyagi…

As the Elephant’s company continued to grow, he noticed his team of ants struggle to keep up with the volume of work.  The ants worked hard, and he hired new ones as fast as possible, but the higher volumes and faster turnarounds seemed beyond the ants’ skill and experience. The Elephant decided to hire a…

In my last email, I explained how being “nice” is self-focused and short-term.  Mastering kindness develops many skills that are an essential part of leadership like choosing long-term results over short-term.  Giving honest feedback versus spin.  Communicating, not just talking numbers. If you didn’t receive my comments about nice vs. kind leadership, you can read…

The commercial message for the KIND® protein bar was a smart play on words, “Nice tells you what you want to hear, but kind is honest.” It brought me back to a time long ago that taught me to be kind, instead of nice. I was at a software company, and we were having difficulties finding new…

A Real Life Leadership Story A college senior I know was the Director of a team of engineering students competing in SAE Aero Design, an international competition to design, build and fly an original aircraft.  I was asked to coach him in leadership and team building. The time came for the competition.  There were dozens…