Integrity takes courage and it is totally transparent. When you see and hear it, you know it. At a recent session at the Simon Business School of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, integrity was examined in the context of growing high performing cultures. The graduate level students were passionate about the subject. Integrity … Read more

Just like parents watching one of our kids drive out of the driveway on that first date, we have to confront our fears and overcome them through trust. It takes courage to allow others to take the reins and make decisions, because they might fail. Something bad might happen. At the very least, the organization might underperform, and you could lose market share in the short run. But where would we be now had our parents not given us the keys for that first date?

An organization “in integrity” is transparent and in balance. This is a tall order and requires strong leadership, clarity of mission and intent, and a heavy dose of persistence. Integrity must be a stated value of every company and be woven into the very fabric of the culture. Team members, to include all leaders, must walk the talk with integrity, on and off the job, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In our experience, a leader who micro-manages a team is insecure. This is almost always the case with young and inexperienced leaders, but with practice and development, these leaders will mature and learn to give team members more and more autonomy and control. We recognize that leadership is a journey and we all develop our … Read more

Listening is a learned skill and sadly, most leaders are very poor listeners. According to Ernest Hemingway: “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” Malcom Forbes wisely observed that “The art of conversation begins with listening.”