For many years, I have given presentations at professional conferences. I connect with leaders all levels. It is invigorating to have rich discussions with diverse professionals in the special atmosphere of a conference. After my presentations, I stay in the conference room to speak privately with some of the attendees who come up to me. Here is one of the most asked questions: “When can I start being a leader?” It is asked by entry-level professionals, supervisors and even seasoned managers. Read More »

Over my career, I have been the beneficiary of the wise counsel, constructive criticism and honest feedback of several mentors – both formal and informal. It made a big difference in the tangible results of my career (position, compensation) and in intangible ways (sense of purpose, confidence). Once I reached a certain point in my career, I was faced with the choice to be a mentor myself. It was time to give back. Read More »

When we think about “brands”, we generally think of consumer products and companies. We can conjure up brands like Domino’s Pizza, Volvo cars and Apple. The image that emerges when we think of them is the brand. With Domino’s, we think “fast”. While we don’t think “gourmet food”, we do think we can be eating pizza thirty minutes after ordering it. When we hear Volvo, we think “safety”. Apple we associate with “innovation”. These associations are the brand. Read More »

Most of us can remember a time from our childhoods when we failed. Maybe we lost in the final round of the spelling bee, forgot our lines in the school play, or cost our team the championship game. At the time, those failures felt devastating and in some ways they were. However, most of us learned early on that failure is essential to winning. Read More »