Much has been said about the importance of availability in leadership. I think we can all agree that it's no longer enough to sit in the corner office and dictate from afar through a series of procedures and processes. Neither is relying on title or authority a sustainable method of implementation. Effective, influenced-based leadership necessitates investing in relationships with those we rely on to execute on a daily basis. To build and improve effective teams, leaders know they must be available, but lately I've been exploring what it looks like to...

At Epoch, Bob Goff brought up the point that we should love our enemies. He started a school for his enemies – the witch doctors of Uganda. It got me thinking about my enemies and what I’m doing for them. I thought back to one particular enemy I did not interact well with. Before I went on the World Race six years ago, I asked myself a question. If I could choose five friends to go around the world with for a year, who would they be? “Nobody!” I answered myself. I was pretty sure there’d be plenty of drama, everyone would be difficult to get along with and that...

Recently a few of my girlfriends and I decided to take on the Great Smoky Mountains… Fueled by [filtered] creek water and the adventure in our hearts, we hiked through the humidity to our camping spot. After setting up tents, cooking dinner and making friends with our neighbors we fell asleep to the sound of rushing water. Bliss.  In the morning, it rained. Rain is lovely when you have a cup of tea on a Saturday morning and no where to go. In the woods, not so much. Despite the weather we decided to take the trail our neighbors told us about – they said it was only a few...

  I am not sure what planet you are living on if you haven’t heard of Kid President. Just incase you live on another planet, or you are a Walt Whitman type, here is my favorite kid president video. Recently, I had the joy of hearing the story of Kid President from Brad Montague, the creator. I realized during his talk that I have a ton to learn from kids. Here are 5 leadership lessons from Kid President & what I desperately need to learn from kids.   1. Be Real Kid President took the world by storm. His personality, love and candor have inspired...

You know what they say when you assume. But it's something our minds naturally do. Our brain works to sift through all the incoming information and categorize it. Is that person friendly? Is this bridge safe? Is this food delicious? Our brain makes constant judgments about the world around us, so that it knows how to react. But is this instinctual habit hindering us in the work place? When you start a meeting with co-workers, do you already know what they want out of the meeting? Or rather you think you know? When you read an email, do you infer a positive tone behind it, or a...

Do you have a sense of urgency?  Should you?  You decide.   Exhibit A: In business and startups, a “sense of urgency” is a good thing. Yet many entrepreneurs confuse this with a “sense of emergency,” which insidiously saps the life from their business. – John Kotter   I’m not a big feeler, but the idea of insidiously sapping the life out of anything sounds painful and exhausting.  And Dr. Kotter seems to know a thing—or 8—about leading change.   Exhibit B: It is rare to find large companies that truly have a sense...