leadership

Why are we so focused on our weaknesses?

In the business world, it’s that time of year again: time to update our personal business goals, our individual development plans, or whatever our workplaces call it. It’s also time to meet with managers to discuss our “strengths” and “areas for improvement.” I’ve always thought we’ve handled this process in an odd way. When we discuss things we’d like to improve, we’re supposed to follow them with suggestions for actions—ways

The Fourth Element of Success - The "Giver" Interaction Style

Adam Grant author of Give and Take (*) says success is a combination of hard work (motivation), talent (ability), and luck (opportunity)… but there is a fourth element — how we style our interactions with others. In other words, how relate to others and collaborate with our co-workers matters: Takers – want more than they give Matchers – equally give what they get Givers – give more than they get. When takers

Creativity complicates women leaders Leaning In

I admit that it took me years to get and read Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In and the only reason I did was because I read a book on women and negotiation called Women Don’t Ask by Linda Babcock. For a long time I wondered what Ms. Sandberg could possibly know about the struggle of women in the workplace and the struggle for us to get opportunities and create our

Intersecting "The Open Organization" and "Give and Take"

  Or, “How does building credibility work?”, “What specific things do people do?”, “How do you become a leader in an open organization?”   In Jim Whitehurst’s book, The Open Organization, he discusses Red Hat’s culture as one in which the passion of the associates leads them to collaborate and debate (sometimes aggressively) the merit of their ideas. Because Red Hat is a meritocracy, the best ideas are chosen because they