Leadership Articles by Don Blohowiak

These articles about leadership improvement are offered to you at no charge. They were written by Don Blohowiak of the Lead Well Institute which specializes in custom leadership development.

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How to Really Know What People Want Listening & Seeking Input   The key to having good information: Obtaining unfiltered data and insights from the people most important to your leadership—the constituents your operation exists to serve. Full Text

Bizarre Bosses Unmasked Leader's Library   Know any managers who act quite strangely? Or even downright dysfunctionally? Do you ever find yourself doing something you wished you had not, and then wondering, "What came over me?" Humans behave oddly at times, even in the workplace; even at the top of the hierarchy. And no one, it seems, is q... Full Text

On Power, Justice, and Reverence Inner Leadership   The ancient Greeks, contends humanities professor Paul Woodruff, have much to teach the powerful of today's world. Many of them fall victim to their own hubris and abuses of power—signs that "indicate a lack of respect for the difference between human beings and gods." Healthy organizations, communities, and nations result from leaders who maintain a healthy sense of reverence for the wonders of the world beyond themselves. Full Text

Time Magazine Names Whistle-blowers Persons of the Year for 2002 Journal   03 January 2003---The year just past slides into the annals of history soiled by headline-grabbing ethics scandals spurred by exceptionally few but notoriously self-serving executives. Some honest individuals observed their associates' impropriety first-hand and thus faced the gut-w... Full Text

Conviction Over Cash Journal   02 January, 2003--- Maj. Cleo Damon, head of the Salvation Army office in Naples, Florida, returned a check for $100,000 USD from a 71 year old benefactor. Damon said that the charitable organization would not take David L. Rush's money because the source of the funds was the Florida stat... Full Text

Predictions for the Workplace in 2003 Journal   01 January, 2003 -- What lies ahead for the workplace in the coming year? Our favorite business futurists at the Herman Group have ventured out on a limb to make 10 forecasts. Given the uncertain nature of today's global economic forces, "This year's forecasts are necessarily tentative," caution s... Full Text

Living by Intention Inner Leadership   30 December 2002---The start of a new year is a traditional time for taking stock, deciding how you want your future to unfold, and resolving to improve yourself. "People change more often because they feel the heat than because they see the light," suggests executive coach Janet Feldman. Many peo... Full Text

Consultants: Gravy Train to Bread Line Journal   Fired or refused to hire any consultants lately? According to all accounts, it's tough out there in consultantland. Most consultants, in their quiet, honest moments, say things like these words from a tired, defeatist organizational consultant in the southwestern U.S., "It's painfully slow r... Full Text

The Why of How Journal   "Until I deal with the why, I don't really know the how."      -- Alton Brown There is a nearly unimaginable number of instructional, how-to, and self-help books on management, leadership, and self-development topics. But success in an organization --- and i... Full Text

Enron: Bankruptcy Circus = Fuel for the Cynics Journal   25 December 2002---Enron, the infamous energy company, is still very much operating and collecting fees from customers while not paying many creditors. Soooo it has amassed billions in cash and attracted flocks of fee-hungry vultures with law degrees. The bankruptcy proceedings, as chronicle... Full Text

When It's Huge, Start Slow Journal   Too much too fast defeats goal attainment. Full Text

Relating to Your Associates: Close or Distant? Journal   Guest Thinker  Phil Van Hooser: When first promoted to a supervisory capacity,did you receive the following well-meaning advice? 'Don't get too close to your people. If you do, you won't be able to make objective decisions concerning them.' No matter how well-meaning this advice may have been... Full Text

Irony Too Delightful to Ignore Journal   29 November 2002---We have many Dilbert-like expressions in our informal business vernacular: No good deed goes unpunished. We don't do this-or-that because it would make too much sense. The tail is wagging the dog...I just experienced one of those moments that gives rise to the cynics. After usin... Full Text

Anticipated Action Journal   I moved my hands back and forth under the airport washroom sink. Nothing. I moved to the next sink. Same thing. Nothing.The attendant cleaning the sink next to where I stood in dry frustration said, "Push the top." I looked down at the faucet and realized that it had a push valve to release the wate... Full Text

¿What If We Stopped? Journal   The drive for process efficiency is relentless in many operations. Getting the work done faster, more efficiently, with less waste of resources is a never-ending push.One way to gain efficiency is to stop doing some tasks.To identify targets ripe for a cease and desist action, ask these questions of... Full Text

Rudy-a-plenty Journal   I read leadership books as an occupational preoccupation. But I'm not reading Rudy Giuliani's not-so-humbly titled memoir Leadership. I have nothing against Hizzoner. He was a visible stalwart of stability during a very dark hour for the USA last year.BUT... The admirable Mr. Giuliani is not a hero ... Full Text

Filling the Leadership Pipeline Journal   While 77 percent of major American companies said they had a leadership development process, less than a third of them believed it was effective, according to consulting firm Hewitt Associates cited in Sunday's New York Times."There's an underwhelming level of investment in developing great leaders,... Full Text

¿Sustain the Frenzy? Journal   Take any machine --- from a blender to an automobile to a jet fighter --- and run it at maximum capacity. Wide open. Full out.How long can you maintain the intensity of output before there is trouble?Naturally, that varies. But one thing is certain. Push relentlessly in the Zone of Maximum Capacity ... Full Text

The Cost of Civility Journal   How much more does being civil and pleasant cost? How much more time does kindness and decency take?In virtually all circumstances, of course, the answer to both questions is: none.So why should you tolerate uncivil or unpleasant behaviors in your associates?We know that emotions-on-display cause re... Full Text

In Praise of Charisma Journal   Agree or disagree: "Charismatic leadership is important both for substance and for the intangible confidence it represents to people." That's the contention of Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the associate dean at the Yale School of Management and president of Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute, writin... Full Text

Productivity: Up & Challenged Journal   Productivity, the amount of goods and services Americans produced in each hour they worked, grew rapidly in the third quarter, the Labor Department reported yesterday. The gain was the fifth consecutive quarterly increase, a much stronger performance than usual in times of economic weaknes... Full Text

Participation not Consensus Journal   Having a say, Max DePree, reminds us, is different from having a vote. And likewise, we might add, cooperating is different from totally agreeing with everyone else on the team.A leader's job is to seek input, encourage discussion and thinking, and finally (and critically) to make a decision. The jo... Full Text

Budgets as Signals Managing Processes & Work Flow   Budgets do two important things: 1) Reflect the organization's priorities2) Communicate to everyone what is important (and what is not)A budget should reflect clear priorities. To declare spending parameters ahead of achieving that clarity is tantamount to prescription before diagnosis.Hint for ef... Full Text

Keep the Keepers Encouraging & Developing Others   Some businesses churn through more than 100% or even 200% of their employee base every year. Others have almost no turnover.What's the right turnover rate for your payroll? Even in notoriously high turnover industries, some operators always manage to have a much lower attrition rate (and much better... Full Text

Mindset Mindcrafting for Leaders   Every one of us carries in our heads a mental picture of how the world works. This mental mosaic pieces together for us the disparate elements and connections in an extremely diverse and multifaceted reality. Over your entire lifetime you paint in your mind a cumulative and complex picture of the wo... Full Text

Renewal Mindcrafting for Leaders   A jam-packed to-do list. Rushing from meeting to meeting. Being too busy to call a friend just to chat aimlessly. These are all very common symptoms of a life out of alignment. And headed for trouble.Physical and spiritual renewal, so central to one's well-being, can be so easy to overlook in the fa... Full Text

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