A few days ago, my oldest daughter came home from school with a bit of a dilemma. She got back her latest math assignment and noticed that one of the problems she had solved correctly was marked as incorrect because her answer wasn’t rounded up to the second decimal point. As it wasn’t stated in the problem’s instructions that the correct answer needed to be rounded up to a given decimal point, my daughter was confused as to why her response was marked wrong and asked me if I could look it over to help her figure it out.

Looking over her assignment, I saw that my daughter not only solved the problem correctly, but she was right that the problem didn’t ask students to round up their answer. So, I told my daughter that all she had to do was point this mistake out to her teacher so that she could correct the grade she got on her assignment. However, my daughter felt uncomfortable with the idea of talking about this mistake with her teacher and asked me if I could bring it up instead.

Given how my daughter has a really good rapport with her teacher, I was a bit puzzled as to why she was so reluctant about discussing this with her. As we talked about it more, it became clear that her hesitation arose from feelings of discomfort over having to tell her teacher that she had made a mistake in marking her assignment.

Now one of the things my parents taught me was the importance of showing respect and appreciation for our teachers given how they help to build our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Naturally, this is an attitude I want instill in my children as well. However, I also want them to feel comfortable with approaching authority figures to point out when errors are made.

To help encourage my daughter to deal with this herself, I made her this deal – that she try to talk to her teacher about this error and if she finds herself struggling, she can give her teacher a note I’ll write to explain what we discussed. Although not exactly thrilled, my daughter nonetheless accepted this approach to resolve her dilemma.

Of course, it’s not just children who can struggle with having to point out mistakes being made by others, especially when it’s an authority figure like a teacher or parent. Employees can also feel uncomfortable bringing to the attention of others problems or mistakes they see being made, particularly if those responsible for them serve higher up in their organization.

But this is where leaders can make a difference by providing Click here to continue reading »”5 Questions To Figure Out How Well You Manage Mistakes”

Perhaps no issue has been stirring as much discussion in the leadership field as the continual lack of balanced representation of women in senior management. Faced with the discouraging reality that only 3% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women, despite their growing numbers in the lower management positions, it’s not surprising why this topic is getting a lot attention, if not concern given the growing rate at which women now represent current graduates coming out of universities.

Granted, it’s difficult, if not impossible for me to truly speak with any authority as to the challenges women face in the business world. However, that doesn’t make this a topic that doesn’t matter to me, especially given my own relationships as a father, husband and brother who’d like to know the women in his life have just as many opportunities as he does irrespective of gender or other divisive social categorizations.

That’s why I’m delighted to share this story courtesy of Susan T. Spencer. Susan came upon my blog some months ago and in that time, we’ve been corresponding about the issues of women, leadership and the changing business environment. Susan has had plenty of experience working in various male-dominated industries – from serving as the VP and acting GM of the NFL franchise Philadelphia Eagles, to being the successful owner of several meat processing plants which had combined annual revenues of $50 million US.

She recently sent me an advance copy of her upcoming book “Briefcase Essentials”, which not only chronicles Click here to continue reading »”Women and Leadership – A Look From Inside The Boardroom”

Image courtesy of GeorgeBK

As a leader, do you think your role requires you to serve others or for others to serve you? This question serves as the basis for a guest post I co-wrote with S. Max Brown for the leadership blog series “Wake Up and Shake It Up” being run by Shawn Murphy over at Achieved Strategies.

The month-long series focuses on sharing insights and inspiration to encourage leaders to work with their employees in creating a more engaging, empowering, and consequently more productive workplace. The series features a number of authors and experts in leadership and personal development, including Lolly Daskal, David Burkus, Monica Diaz, and Mike Henry, Sr. to name just a few of the series’ contributors.

I would like to thank Shawn for inviting me to participate in his leadership blog series, which I’m told will also be offered as an e-Book for readers to download.  I invite you to check out this piece co-written by Max and myself, which looks at how leaders can inadvertently shift their focus to a self-serving one and what they can do to refocus the lens of their leadership back onto their team. And while you’re there, be sure check out what the other series’ contributors have to say about changing the way we approach leadership.

With the latest edition of the Winter Olympics soon approaching its end, much of the focus right now is on tallying up medal counts and reviewing the performances of the various athletes in their particular events. However, this is also a good opportunity to look at some of the concepts leaders and businesses can learn from the Olympic Games.

While there are some obvious ones, like the importance of teamwork and understanding interpersonal dynamics, there are other valuable lessons businesses can learn from this international event. To help illustrate these points, let’s take a look at these three memorable stories from the Olympics:

Collaboration goes beyond borders

At the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, Canadian skier Sara Renner encountered a situation I’m sure she never imagined would happen. In the middle of the cross-country team sprint race, one of her ski poles was accidentally broken by another skier, leaving her with only one pole to continue the race with. That is, until one of the ski coaches rushed out onto the track to give her his ski pole so she could keep going without any difficulty. Thanks to the quick response of this coach, Renner and her teammate Beckie Scott went on to win the silver medal in this event.

While it was a proud moment for Canadians, what really made it incredible was that Click here to continue reading »”Olympics Lessons On Improving Our Approach To Business”