It’s a timeless truth that bears repeating: Good leadership starts with a vision. Why? Because leadership is about going somewhere. If you don’t know where you’re going, your leadership doesn’t matter. Great leaders understand this and mobilize others by coalescing them around a shared vision. A compelling vision will help you and your team get…
Dear Madeleine, I hate New Year’s resolutions and I don’t feel like making any this year. I have had some success with them in the past, but this year I just feel overwhelmed with everything I have on my plate. Still, I feel so much pressure to make some. What do you think? Cranky Dear…
Dear Madeleine, I am so frustrated with myself. At the beginning of the year I set a whole bunch of goals. Then Q1 whooshed by and guess what I have done? Nothing. I stayed really focused for about two weeks and then forgot all about my resolutions. One of my big goals was to have…
Dear Madeleine, What is your opinion about New Year’s resolutions? I have a list of goals as long as my arm for the New Year, and I realize I am probably overdoing it. How do I know how much is enough, and how much is too much? Feeling Ambitious ________________________________________________________________________ Dear Feeling Ambitious, There is…
With so much emphasis on setting goals at the beginning of the New Year, why do so many people end up off track by the middle of March? Ken Blanchard discovered the reason early in his career after the release of his all-time best-selling business book with Spencer Johnson, The One Minute Manager®. In working…
Dear Madeleine, I have not once in my life kept a New Year’s resolution. And yet, here I am once again thinking about all I want to accomplish and feeling demoralized. Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? How can I be successful…
Looking back at the past year, there are a number of things I would have done differently. For example, one day I received feedback that was negative and I didn’t deal with it correctly. My poor response to this feedback dramatically impacted the outcome of the situation—for the worse. Hopefully, I’ve learned something from the…
I started with a new client today and we talked about setting goals. My client expressed reservations about goal setting. In the past he had articulated a vision for what he and his business would accomplish, but then a lot of interesting things happened that resulted in his taking his business in a completely different,…
Can we be real with each other for just a minute? I may be branded a leadership heretic by what I’m about to say but I’ve got to be honest. Here goes: Setting goals is hard work. It can be tedious. It can be as enjoyable as a poke in the eye with a sharp…
Researchers brought two groups of people together for some testing on goal setting. One group had been identified as low performers and the other as high performers. The researchers wanted to find out if there were any differences in the way the two groups approached setting goals. To test a theory they had developed, the…