Leadership development may be the most important thing any company does. That’s why, every week, I review blogs and other publications that cover leadership development to find the very best leadership development posts. This week, you’ll find pointers to posts about
From Scott Gregory: The Most Common Type of Incompetent Leader
“A young friend recently remarked that the worst boss he ever had would provide him with feedback that always consisted of ‘You’re doing a great job.’ But they both knew it wasn’t true — the organization was in disarray, turnover was excessive, and customers were not happy. My friend was giving it his all, but he needed more support and better feedback than he received. He wanted a leader who would be around when he needed them, and who would give him substantive advice, not platitudes. As a measure of his frustration, he said, ‘I would rather have had a boss who yelled at me or made unrealistic demands than this one, who provided empty praise.'”
From Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman: Most Leaders Know Their Strengths — but Are Oblivious to Their Weaknesses
“‘Oh, I pretty much know my strengths and my weaknesses.’ If we had a dollar for every time we’d heard this from an executive we were coaching, we could have retired a long time ago. When probed, they often proclaim that while they might not recognize all their strengths, they are confident about knowing their serious weaknesses. And yet what we see when we administer 360-degree feedback surveys on behalf of these leaders is that the executives with really low scores in one or more areas are often completely unaware of their fatal flaws. They are shocked to find themselves scoring so low — even though approximately 30% of all the leaders we’ve studied have at least one fatal flaw.”
From Julie Winkle Giulioni: Leveraging Learning to Cultivate Mindfulness: 5 Stealth Strategies
“L&D professionals who wish to leverage learning and quietly cultivate mindfulness can do so by drawing upon several high-impact instructional strategies that concurrently enhance participant learning while allowing people to experience and develop essential habits related to mindfulness – presence, attention and intention.”
From Ave Rio: Women in Leadership: Surmounting Barriers and Bias
“Organizations say advancing women is a critical issue, yet structural barriers and gender bias continue to contribute to the lack of women in leadership roles.”
