There are a few essential skills that every leader must learn on the job. These are the things that no one will teach you in school. One...

The opposite of fragile is not resilient; it’s "anti-fragile". We all know what fragile means. It is something that’s easily broken,...

I spent the better part of the 1990s and early 2000s possessed by a great mystery. This enigma spoke to the heart of the human experience...

Some of the best leaders are drawn from the ranks of rebels – and also some of the worst. When you find yourself at the bottom of a...

As you might remember from my article, Competence Beats Confidence, I attended a private military college during my undergraduate years....

A wise mentor once taught me that every effective team needs three people: a gas pedal, a steering wheel, and a brake. The gas pedal...

The witching season is upon us. Halloween is the one holiday that officially celebrates the things that freak us out. It’s a tradition...

When in doubt about whether to share what’s on your mind or engage a tough situation, its usually best to lean towards taking the risk....

At a recent leadership and digital technology event, I participated in an interesting experiment. The room was full of seasoned C-suite...

My recent article, Grow in Public: Leading Conflict Principle 6, made the argument that a deliberately developmental culture is only made...

I loved 80’s punk music when I was kid. Ok, I liked some 90’s punk too. No, I’m not talking about Green Day. American Idiot is still a...

I love monster movies. The bigger and meaner the monster, the better the movie. Alien. Predator. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But when...

Happiness is a feeling. Cheerfulness is a choice… and a weapon. By cheerfulness, I don’t mean schmaltzy niceties and fake smiles. Real...

People are different. We each bring our own stories, assumptions, and worldview to work with us. Sometimes, you have a clear...

Humans loathe uncertainty. We like patterns, routines and structure. We like knowing what’s going to happen next. Even creative pursuits,...

What do you do when your organization asks you to do something unethical? A Leading Conflict subscriber recently posed this question to...

See the picture above? That’s not a listening stance. But it might be what you look like when people try to give you feedback. One the...

In How to Take a Punch at Work I talked about my love of boxing and one of my all-time favorite boxers, Micky Ward. As I said in the...

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve likely realized that I’m a boxing fan. When you like a sport as much as I like...

My six-year-old son and I created a game. It is in fact, the best, most fun game in history (at least according to my son). It’s called...