Category: Leadership

Leadership ideas and considerations

Workplace Autonomy – A Leadership Discussion

When working with organizations, I often profess the need for autonomy for that organization’s employees. However, it’s not as simple as just letting go of the reigns. Recently, I was asked to provide some context as to why I would suggest that. So let’s discuss why one might subscribe to it and what this might […]

Turning Change Management into Change Leadership

If you have ever worked a corporate job, you have probably heard of the term Effective Change Management. If not, perhaps you have heard of something similar. Many individuals and organizations spend a lot of time and money trying to figure it out. Here, I want to take a second to provide some clarity and […]

Q & A: Questionable Employee Social Media Posts

I was recently asked my opinion regarding questionable employee social media posts. Such posts can complicate things. Let us explore this for a moment. Question Posed: “How do you handle staff who post/share racist things on their personal social media (Anti refugee, immigrant, LGBTQ kinda stuff)? Not trying to start any arguments, just wondering if […]

Does Race or Gender Make the Leader?

There are many different definitions of Leadership. Of course, these vary dramatically depending on whom you are asking and in what context you may be referring. They all have common themes, but when diversity (such as race and gender) within leadership becomes the focal point, and when a spotlight on the uncontrollable physical attributes of […]

Leadership, Trust, and Politics

Whether we know it or not and whether we would like to admit it or not, we are all involved in politics to some degree. In a traditional sense, a politician is simply a person who is professionally involved in the activities associated with any type of leadership. This includes the debate or conflict among […]

The REAL Che Guevara

A few years ago, I saw a video of a teacher’s union marching down the street. These teachers were protesting in support of higher wages. However, each teacher was wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. When asked why they wore the shirts, they could not fully explain it (Pundit, 2012). One teacher went as far as […]

A Leadership Lesson from Gandhi

The life of Gandhi, and for that matter, his quests, are often subject to scrutiny, wonderment, and amazement due in large part to cultural differences, influences, life experiences, and happenstance. Some with Western philosophies may find it hard to imagine all the different pieces that came together to make a timid, shy, and unsure person […]

Machiavelli “The Prince” – Was It A Warning?

When reading “The Prince,” one cannot help but feel Machiavelli’s frustration and pain. His pain could have been rooted in his exile, his desire to return to political life, or perhaps even the desire to reunite Italy. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Perhaps only Machiavelli knows for sure. Machiavelli clearly loved his country, […]

The Traits Necessary to be a University President

Introduction John Kroger of INSIDE HigherED has argued that “a university president may need significantly greater leadership skills to achieve good outcomes than leaders in other contexts” (Kroger, 2018). His reasons include having “a large number of constituencies with very different interests, accompanied by unwieldy board structures and conflicting and vague governance rules.” Kroger suggests […]

Leadership, Learning, and Critical Reflection

Learning is essential to leadership (Brown & Posner, 2001). Catch-phrases such as “Leadership is Learning,” “The Best Leaders Are Constant Learners,” and “A Sign of Great Leadership is Continuous Learning” are just a few of the many examples of what one might hear or read about during their leadership journey. While true, learning alone is […]