There are whole sections in business libraries and bookstores dedicated to the topic of leadership. What it is. What it requires. Masters write about it and rewrite about it over and over again. Some new and long established names you may have read: Peter Drucker, John Kotter, Seth Godin, Warren Bennis, Daniel Pink, Gary Hamel, Steven…
I’ve known Mary Jeffries since she was the CFO of a startup PR firm in Minneapolis more years ago than either of us will admit. Many from those days would credit Mary with doing “whatever it takes” to push through challenges, taking the organization to the next level. One example is when Mary was seen…
I recently conducted a bold leader interview with Charlotte Otto and shared what she learned from being at the center of communications at P&G over 33 years. (Click here to read part 1.) During our conversation, Charlotte shared a story about THE leader at P&G who defined “bold” in the phrase bold leader. This is her…
Charlotte Otto was the person, P&G leadership turned to for communication counsel in times of positive and negative stress. For 20 of her 33 years at the company, she was at the center of communications, working with 5 CEOs and many bold leaders.
Pam Moret is by training a lawyer and by experience and her own description, a “problem person.” She is someone who loves “diving into aggressive development and challenging problems. I came out of the womb that way. I prefer living with the consequences of leading.”
A couple of years ago at a national health care conference, I joined a small breakout group discussion and met Deborah Gage, CEO of Medecision, across the table. I don’t remember much about the discussion, but I know we parted, exchanging business cards, with (at least on my part) a clear desire to talk more…
John Geisler, vice president and CIO of Cargill, was a guest 8-10 years ago on an internet radio show my Aveus Partner Linda Ireland and I hosted every week back then. Between that time and today, John has led some of the largest, global change initiatives inside the company.
Think of change leadership as ‘stealth’ organizing. You know those great experiences when you meet someone for the first time and immediately the conversation feels natural, with common values and principles popping to the forefront in the first few sentences?
Positive is good. Negative is bad. Right? For example, positive stress in an organization typically helps drive towards a desired outcome. The challenge is to harness the positive to your advantage. Let’s contrast.
That headline was one of the last things Brad Hewitt, President and CEO of Thrivent Financial, said to me when we sat down together for a conversation. It came after a fast hour of “Brad-isms” as he dubbed them, and I have to say, this was one fun conversation.
