A Cautionary Tale

Here’s my new article on leadership in the NorthBay Business Journal ~

SELF-AWARENESS ESSENTIAL FOR LEADERS

A business owner recently told me about a proverbial wake up call he had received: a key employee had resigned, citing difficulties with the owner as one of the reasons. As the exit interviews unfolded over a period of days, the owner learned that the employee had accepted an attractive job offer with a competitor. Ouch. The good news is that the business owner is using this opportunity to take stock of his management and leadership style. He wants to see what he can learn from the situation.

Click here to read the rest of the article

Food for Thought ~

Leaders must be ever willing to learn and grow personally and professionally. We must be strong enough and confident enough to be a student, to continuously hone our skills toward mastering the art of leadership.
Self-awareness is an essential foundation in that process.

Question of the day ~

What resources do you utilize for developing your self-awareness and your skills as a leader: reading, classes, coaching, counseling, personality testing, trusted friends/advisors? And from another perspective, what’s the cost of insufficient self-awareness?

Robert Louis Stevenson said: “You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?