Mentoring is often thought of to help younger employees develop by passing on the wisdom of more experienced leaders. And it is! But that model ignores all the wisdom that many people have to give those of us who sit in leadership positions. And there is a lot that early career employees have to...
Corporate Culture
The Business Case for Strategic Focus on Organizational Culture
In the early 1980’s Robert Levering, a journalist, and his writing partner Milt Moskowitz set out on a three-year tour to travel the United States. They interviewed employees across the country to find out what made for a really good work environment. They asked two questions: “What makes this a...
Unconscious Bias: The Key to Effective Gender Communication
In executive coaching (both women and men) I’ve often observed that two parallel stories about women and men in the workplace often coexist. First, “women and men communicate differently” is a truth that few bother to deny. Second, “men and women are treated equally in the workplace.” To me, it’s...
Middle Managers – The Critical (Weak) Link of Change Management
If you were in charge of your corporate culture and knew it needed fixing, would you fix it? Certainly anyone in charge of change management would want to say yes to this question, but as anyone who is actually in charge of corporate culture knows, it’s harder than it looks. I like to think of...
Workplace Bias is a Fact: How not to run a meritocracy (and 3 ways to try)
It's counter-intuitive that if we don't think we are biased, we probably are! But when you realize that bias is natural and that we all have it, then it makes sense that being aware of your bias is the best way to counter-act it. We love this advice from Dana on how to think about bias and work to...
Innovative Leadership 101: Develop a Perspective Protocol
Sometimes we have to accept the reality that innovation can’t always be planned, but when we find a pattern to help us increase the likelihood of spontaneity – why not try to learn it and bake it into the corporate culture? In their new book “Great by Choice,” Jim Collins and Morten Hansen have...
The Perils of “Easy” Consensus: Leaders, Do Your Job
Throughout my career I’ve had experiences with government, nonprofit and corporate cultures, and I’ve noticed a leadership pattern in all three that leaders can learn from. Consensus means different things to different people. Be brave. Do Your Job. Don’t take the ”easy” path. The word consensus...
Replacing Tropes for Mentoring Women with the Truths They Deserve
Mentoring Women Key Takeaways: Mentorship Must Evolve: Traditional mentoring advice often perpetuates outdated gender tropes that hinder women's leadership potential. Mentors need to update their guidance to reflect current workplace realities. Unconscious Bias is Pervasive: Mentors can...
Why Would You Want To Be A Pro-Employee Company?
What does pro-employee even mean? You may interpret the phrase “pro-employee” any number of ways. It could be about being on the list of top companies to work for. Maybe it’s about working effectively with unions or being union-free. It could be about benefits, vacation time, flexible work hours,...
5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Company – Leadership Right Now
In recognition of the fact that a company with women in roughly 30% of its leadership tend to produce healthier and stronger performing companies, there are lots of good programs out there trying to help women. But should we really wait for HR to come up with a great program?
Seriously – it’s not about the special programs. It’s about you and me and what we do every day to create the culture we live in – and to create a culture that welcomes the gifts women bring into the leadership ranks. Culture is created by the behaviors we tolerate and those we don’t. This doesn’t just apply to women.
Men and women both bear responsibility for helping lead their companies and create a strong culture – no matter what their title is.
Personally what can we do?