Hi!
The wild
winter has passed at last and, as a new season begins, glimmers of hope in the
economic news are beginning to fill the warm air. I'm happy to report that interest in Total
Leadership continues to grow and that we're increasing our capacity to help
people around the world find creative ways to improve performance in all parts
of their lives -- work, home, community, and self -- by finding mutual value
among them.
In this issue get a quick update on where we've been,
check out my recent blogs, read about and watch videos on the ground-breaking
White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility in which I had the thrill of
participating, read a letter from an old
friend in Japan, and discover
two great new books.
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In this issue
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Where in the world is Total Leadership
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Recent blogs: the First Couple, more
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From the community: news from Japan
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In the media: White House Forum
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New books we like
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Where in the world is Total Leadership
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Since our last issue we've had the privilege of working with students at the
Wharton School and with people in a variety of different organizations,
including:
* Instituto de Empresa
* The Junior League
* Animas (a division of J & J)
* Coca Cola Enterprises
* Securities Industry Institute
* State Government Affairs Council
* Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars
* Women's Healthcare Executive Roundtable
* Eisai
Our Total Leadership client services team is growing to meet increasing demand. We're now delivering enterprise-wide solutions in person and virtually, supported by our still-closed-to-the-public social networking interactive site, where participants are actively engaged in peer-to-peer coaching.
Contact us to learn more about our suite of Total Leadership solutions.
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| My recent blogs | The First Couple and a New Era of Workplace Flexibility
April 2
The one thing President Obama got wrong in his remarks at the close of yesterday's buzz-filled White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility was when he started by saying that he would not be as good as his wife, who'd spoken earlier to open the half-day meeting.  Perhaps he was just being kind, or coy.
From where I sat (my
comments in this video are at minutes 43.30-47.15 and 79.30-80.45), I'd say that they were equally inspired and inspiring. Both spoke with the kind of clarity and grasp that comes from personal reflection on real struggle. Both know well, from experience, what it means to try to make it all fit somehow -- work, home, community, and your private self. More>>
Tweet
or Meet? How to Choose Your Medium Wisely
March 12
When Stevie Wonder first sang "I just called to say I love you", no one wondered
whether he would have been better off tweeting his message instead of picking
up the phone. Not so today.
Recently, in my Wharton MBA course on leadership from
the point of view of the whole person, we grappled with the challenge of
how to choose among the various media options available today for connecting
with important people in all the different parts of your life. We came up with
17 different media currently in use for interpersonal contact, including
face-to-face (verbal and non-verbal), phone, email, snail mail, text and video
messaging, blogs, podcasts, online forums, even music sharing and online
gaming, among others. More>> Honing
Your Skills as a Peer Coach
February 24
Okay, let's say you and a few colleagues or friends
have formed an informal peer coaching network dedicated to helping each other
improve performance. What's next? As I described in my last post, you can be either
directive or nondirective in your coaching approach. Here, I'll offer ideas for
how you can increase your ability to do both forms well, and so enjoy the
benefits of being part of a fruitful and fun coaching community. More >> How
to Cultivate a Peer Coaching Network
February 2
Who's the better quarterback, Drew Brees or Peyton Manning? Perhaps a more compelling question
for you, the developing leader, is this: How did these guys -- and all the great
performers you might admire -- get to be so good at what they do? A healthy dose
of natural talent, of course - but talent only gets you so far. They also had
real passion for the game, and coaching support that enabled them to improve
their performance capacity continually over years of practice. Assuming you've
got some talent and the requisite passion, let's look at your coaching network
and see what we can do to upgrade it.
We all need somebody to lean on. More>> ------------------------------- I hope you'll read my blog, subscribe to it, and share it with
anyone who might be interested. |
From the community: letter from Japan
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Philippe
Byosiere and I went to graduate school together at the University of Michigan
in the early 1980's. After a long hiatus
in our correspondence, he wrote recently "to share my positive experiences in
teaching Total Leadership in 'experimental' format to my Japanese EMBA [Executive
MBA] class; experimental in the sense that I wanted to experience...how it could
be applied in a Japanese context, given that the nature of the psychological
contract between employer and employee is much more inclusive. The skepticism at the start of the class was
all around, alluding specifically to the fact that four-way wins are only
possible in the West. I took a lot of
heat for that. However... [students]
started to grasp that small changes would upset their zero-sum game mindset...the
experience was positive...I have come to the conclusion that I would end the
experimental phase and teach Total Leadership in our MBA program."
Stay tuned for more news from Japan, as we're
now working on a Japanese translation of my book. ----------------------------------
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| | Are you sharing Total Leadership with people in your world? Let me know by writing to info@totalleadership.org.
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Give this book! | |
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If you or your friends, family and colleagues prefer listening to reading books, you can hear Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life. Find it at iTunes or audible.com.
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In the media:
White House Forum
on Workplace Flexibility
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The main
story to which I want to draw your attention to is what the White House is doing to
drive a shift in our national consciousness about the issue of workplace
flexibility.
Click here to view my interview on ABC News about the powerful messages now being conveyed by our country's chief executive and his wife.
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New books we like |
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A couple
of years ago, this family, living the American dream, decided to do something
that changed their lives as a family:
They sold their Atlanta mansion, moved into a house half its size and
value, and gave away the proceeds ($800,000) to the Hunger Project, to support
development efforts in Ghana.  How they
reached this decision, and their adventures in actually going through with what
seemed like a crazy idea from the start, are the subjects of this brilliantly
composed page-turner, The Power of Half.
It is chock full of leadership wisdom and
will challenge the way you think about your role in society. Kevin Salwen spent 18 years as a writer and
editor for the Wall Street Journal. He left in 2000 to start his own
company, and has been an entrepreneur ever since. He and his daughter,
Hannah, were recently featured in a New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof, in addition a great deal of other well-deserved media attention. Go here for
more information about this inspiring story.
Michael Bungay Stanier
Do More Great Work: Stop the busy work and start the work that matters
If you ever feel that your working life has become an overwhelming churn of emails interrupted by the occasional meeting, then you may just need Michael Bungay Stanier's new book, Do More Great Work: Stop the busy work and start the work that matters.
It's a book that's both practical and inspiring. It's purpose is to help you do more great work -- work that's meaningful, work that you care about, work that makes a difference -- and to do less of the other stuff. It contains 15 "maps", exercises to help you find, start and sustain your own "Great Work". Original guest contributions from fascinating people are scattered throughout, and it includes a full list of additional resources. This book offers a practical way to help you find and do more great work, now.
For more stuff we like go here.
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| Causes we support |
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Total Leadership is devoted to helping those who suffer from mental illness and their families. We support:
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