When you’ve been writing a blog for 5 years as I have starting this month, one of the things you appreciate as being a key factor behind your longevity in this sphere is the importance of taking a vacation break to employ the 3 R’s – rest, review, and reflection.

Of course, it’s not just the art of writing that benefits from taking time off for rest and relaxation to keep improving your craft. As leaders, it’s critical that we’re also taking vacation breaks from leading our team and organization in order to ensure that we’re consistently offering our best to those we lead.

So as I prepare for my annual sojourn, I’d like to share with you these four reasons why taking a vacation will help you to become a more effective leader for those under your care.

1. Vacation breaks give you time to reflect and review
One of the things many of the leaders I’ve worked and spoken with share in common is how they enjoy being able to spend time on ‘big-picture thinking’, where they consider current realities and situations, and what opportunities lie ahead that their organization should invest time and resources to explore.

Unfortunately, while this is an important requirement for effectively leading organizations in today’s interconnected, global economy, one of the realities leaders find themselves grappling with is managing the growing demands for their time and attention in this 24/7 wired world.

The work routines employed by many of these leaders leave them operating more in a reactive, instead of reflective mode, so spending any time on pondering the long-view can seem almost like a luxury.

Indeed, many of the leaders I’ve worked with have expressed this common frustration in spending so much of their days dealing with putting out fires or addressing day-to-day issues that they admit feeling a disconnect between where they spend most of their time and attention, and what they want to achieve through their leadership.

And if the leaders of these organizations feel this disconnect, it doesn’t take much for us to appreciate what realities their employees must be operating within in how their approach their own work.

That’s why it’s so important that we take time off work to Click here to continue reading »

Last week, I had the pleasure of giving the keynote speech at the 2014 NAED LEAD Conference held in Chicago. Given how the focus of my speech was examining the role of charisma in leadership and how we can develop this trait to inspire and engage our employees, it would seem almost natural that the locale for this keynote was this elegant, almost regal ballroom located in one of the illustrious hotels found along Chicago’s “Magnificent Mile”.

Of course, for those who attended my keynote speech, what was a true reflection of the lessons I shared through my talk was the opportunity to connect with new people to listen to their stories about what their successes and their failures have helped them to learn moving forward.

With this in mind, I want to share with you not the highlights of my keynote speech and the various actionable measures that I taught conference attendees to adopt and apply to their own leadership style of guiding their organization. Rather, what I’d like to share here are my reflections from delivering this message to this audience, and hearing what attendees shared about how they would apply these new insights to become a better leader to those under their care.

Tanveer delivering keynote speech at 2014 LEAD Conference in Chicago.

To begin, let us first understand that charisma is not simply about having this natural charm or a magnetic aura that some of us seem to naturally possess to draw in those around us. Rather, as the Oxford Dictionary points out, charisma refers to our ability “to inspire followers with devotion and enthusiasm”.

In other words, charisma is not simply about how charming those around us perceive us to be, but our ability to inspire and engage our employees to Click here to continue reading »

Of the various articles I’ve written for my website, this one is quite unique as it’s the product of a writing collaboration between myself and Col. Chris R. Stricklin. At the time we were writing this piece, Chris was stationed at Kabul, Afghanistan as the Chief of Staff/Chief Operating Officer for the NATO Air Training Command.

In addition to the unique experience of shaping and discussing the various points we wanted to share in this piece, it was wonderful to see how quickly we discovered both the common ground we share, along with the commonality found in our individual experiences regarding the challenges we’ve faced and seen in how we can help to bring out the best in those around us – even from a half a world away.

I hope you’ll enjoy the combined insights Chris and I bring to this piece on how we can effectively take over the reins of an established team and help them to continue to achieve success in attaining the shared purpose that defines why we do what we do.

* * * * *

The house is perfect. Yard meticulously manicured, walls freshly painted, window treatments perfectly hung…it is as you dreamed…just as you move out. For those who move often, it is a commonly understood idiom the house is always the way we want it just before we move out.

As a leader, the same goes for developing a team. You develop those who follow to be intrinsically motivated toward the success of your mission and you meticulously handpick the different levels of leaders below you to execute your vision.

When it is finally running like a well-oiled machine, corporate promotes you to the next level of challenge. What about your successor? People think that assuming a leadership position over a poorly performing organization is the biggest challenge you could face, but the truth is… becoming the leader of a tight team is a larger challenge.

Follow these five simple ground rules and your new leadership challenge will be off to a great start. Click here to continue reading »

One of the great joys I get from my work is the opportunity to connect and build relationships with some truly exceptional leaders and people. One of them is my friend, Bob Bennett, the guest writer of this piece. After seeing one of Bob’s talks two years ago, I knew this was a leader I had to connect with, and our conversations and emails since then have been inspiring, informative, and just plain fun. When you read the guest piece he’s written below, you’ll understand why.

* * * * *

I am blessed to have grandchildren, because they teach me something new every day – even things like leadership and business.

One week shy of their third birthday my wife and I took two of our grandchildren, May and Tucker, to Disney World. They are twins; May is an instigator and manipulator. Tucker is ‘all boy’ and extremely active but sensitive. Both have a quest for knowledge; they can talk with you all day about habitats, inertia, paleontologists, and, as Tucker calls it, ‘gestion,’ the art of turning the food one eats into energy.

We stayed at a cabin in the Wilderness Village. We spent four full days at the separate theme parks, going on every ride that did not have a height restriction.

While packing to leave after the ‘adventure,’ my wife and I wondered which were the kids’ favorite rides. The decision: Tucker – Toy Story; May – Ariel. So, as would any grandparent, we asked them.

The first surprise for us was the speed with which they answered the question. They both answered immediately Click here to continue reading »

In the past week or so, there’s been much discussion and debate over the merits of disruption and with it, how we view and understand what it means to innovate.

There’s one organization that’s familiar with dealing with the unknown and consequently, upending our understanding of what’s possible and what’s not – NASA, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. For almost 60 years, they’ve had to figure out how to do things that had never been done before, and challenge our assumptions of what we’re capable of achieving.

In this guest piece by author, documentary producer and director Rod Pyle, you’ll learn about the challenges NASA recently faced in trying to send new robotic rovers to explore to surface of the planet Mars. Even if you’re not a space enthusiast like myself, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the story and insights Rod shares in this piece, as it reminds us not only of what true innovation looks like, but of our ability to transform the seemingly impossible into our new reality.

* * * * *

“EDL! EDL! EDL!” was the joyous cry that rang out across the central quad at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the night of August 5, 2012. NASA’s Curiosity rover had successfully landed on Mars, and shortly thereafter, the entire landing team spilled out of the control center to proudly shout the initials of Entry, Descent and Landing, thereby proclaiming their success, as the press looked on in amusement. It was a wonderful moment for the normally staid engineering team.

Landing on Mars is a huge engineering challenge. Everything seems to Click here to continue reading »