"Truth in the trenches" is what I have been experiencing over the past years as I visited addiction treatment centers, eating disorder centers, family run programs, residential treatment centers, specialty learning schools, wilderness programs, young adult transition programs, etc.

I also have attended various association conferences all across the U.S.

And I have visited with consultants, transport companies and others who provide services in our industry.

I have had the opportunity to speak with many different leaders from many different walks of life who are now all a part of this caring industry: admissions directors, CEO's, family business owners, field staff, line staff, marketing personnel, police personnel, program administrators, school administrators, teachers, etc.

My informal survey of these people suggests to me that people fall into leadership more by accident than by design. I have identified what I consider to be the core causes of leadership failure in our industry.

Some of the programs I have visited are now no longer in business, are experiencing high staff turnover and have staff that are not happy with their work, which passes onto the children and families.

The privilege of leadership is a high calling ... and an adventure!

"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations." ~  George Bernard Shaw in Man and Superman.

Starting in February and running through November I will be addressing one core area each month. I hope you will enjoy taking a good look at some very common leadership mistakes.

Be the first to answer this puzzle correctly and win a Gift Card.

You must be a current confirmed subscriber to enter.

Find the five-digit number in which the second-digit is three times the first, the third is one more than the second, the fourth is four times the first, and the last is one half more than the second.

Hint: There are no zeros in the number.

DURING THE HEIGHT OF SUMMER, IT IS EASY TO FORGET the darker days and colder temperatures of autumn and winter. When shorter days come, many may feel like hibernating.

Do you know that increased sunlight stimulates the pineal gland at the back of the brain? That reduces the secretion of melatonin. Do you notice a difference in the kids at the start of spring, the renewed energy?

Humans are affected by the changing seasons.

Epidemiological surveys show that nearly 30 percent of people experience a noticeable loss of energy between October and March and, in nearly 10 percent of those, the symptoms can be serious enough to be described as depression. The condition is known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Unfortunately, despite convulsive studies by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health, these findings continue to be largely ignored by treatment centers, and light therapy remains underused in the treatment of depression. Recent studies have shown that even ongoing depression not caused by changing seasons can be improved when the patient is exposed to a lamp that reproduces daylight for 30 minutes every morning. Simply putting a lamp on the corner of a table where one reads can help.