Debbie Laskey's Blog

Welcome to Debbie Laskey's insights and commentary about BRANDING, MARKETING, LEADERSHIP, SOCIAL MEDIA, EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT, and CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES. Debbie has worked in high-tech, the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, nonprofits, and insurance. Expertise includes strategic planning, brand development, marketing plans and audits, competitive positioning, websites, communications, public relations, employee engagement, customer experiences, and social media marketing.

Showing posts with label leadership books. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Five Best Leadership Posts from 2025

Do you know the significance of today's date in American history? If you look back at the Inauguration dates of early American presidents, you'll notice that many took the oath of office on March 4th.

According to Wikipedia, "The first inauguration of George Washington took place on April 30, 1789. Subsequent public inaugurations from 1793 until 1933 were held on March 4th, the day on which the federal government began operations under the U.S. Constitution in 1789. There were some exceptions in 1821, 1849, 1877, and 1917, when March 4th fell on a Sunday, thus the public inauguration ceremony took place on Monday, March 5th. By 1932, the five-month lag between elections and the start of a Congressional session and presidential term was problematic, so the passage of the Twentieth Amendment moved the date to January 20th. Therefore, since 1937, it has taken place at noon Eastern time on January 20th — except in 1957, 1985, and 2013, when January 20th fell on a Sunday. In those years, the presidential oath of office was administered on that day privately and then again in a public ceremony the next day."

To celebrate today's tie-in to leadership, I'm sharing the five best leadership posts I read last year. Titles, authors, and highlights follow — and links are provided at the end. I hope you also find leadership inspiration from these five posts.

SHARE THIS: If you don't defend your team, you're not a leader. ~Anonymous via Gregg Vanourek #LeadershipInspiration #DebbieLaskeysBlog

14 WAYS TO HAVE YOUR TEAM'S BACK AS A LEADER by Gregg Vanourek

Gregg wrote, "Taking responsibility is key. As a leader, you must own not only your actions and results but also those of your team. When something goes wrong, you don't point fingers — even if someone clearly erred. You take responsibility while handling the issue privately to shield your people from embarrassment and blowback. Mistakes are painful enough without public shaming. By doing this, you show that you're addressing the problem and fully owning what happens on your watch."

Gregg then shared 14 ways to have your team's back as a leader. The full list is provided at the link at the end of this post, but here are my favorite five:

* Jump in when someone is overloaded and find ways to help them.

* Invest extra time to prepare a direct report for a big meeting, ensuring they can perform at their best.

* Avoid questioning your managers’ decisions in front of their teams to protect their authority.

* Defend an employee facing discrimination or favoritism.

* Defend a worker caught in a turf war between divisions.

SHARE THIS: When you have your team's back as a leader, you unlock powerful benefits: greater trust, loyalty, motivation, and retention. And a team more willing to take risks and innovate. ~Gregg Vanourek #TeamWork #Leadership #DebbieLaskeysBlog

THE BEST LEADERS ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR MISTAKES by Ahron Friedberg, M.D.

Aaron wrote, "When leaders assume responsibility, they take ownership of a situation, managing it in as many dimensions as necessary so that problems are resolved and all the moving parts operate in sync...Of course, everyone makes mistakes. Leaders sometimes make the mistake of thinking they're not supposed to make mistakes. So they fudge and backtrack. They deflect blame and offer excuses. But responsible leaders acknowledge mistakes and set about fixing them. In this sense, they take the long view. They understand that, down the road, people will respect their transparency and appreciate the proactive effort that, ideally, made things right (or, at least, better)...Everyday leaders who commit themselves to working with people — not just handing down orders — can recover from their mistakes, take on new responsibilities, stand up for ethical imperatives. They address problems in an organization as they would in their own lives: not passively, with a palpable indifference, but actively and with a commitment to do whatever it takes to succeed. They forget about their comfort zones."

How many leaders do you know who acknowledge their own mistakes and forget about their comfort zones?

WHAT DID YOU LEARN? by James Strock

After sharing a personal story, James wrote, "I regard the question, "What Did You Learn?" to be compelling, potentially transformational. I pose it to myself and others constantly. I ask it after successful or disappointing interactions with others. I ask it about relationships. I ask it after meetings or presentations. In fact, there's never a time I'm not asking it to myself and others...It’s a question that I use to challenge myself all the time...You might even want to write it down to provide greater detail, richness, and methodical creativity into the biography of the person you're becoming."

James shared examples as to how important the question (and answers) can be:

* What did you learn in your recent work experiences?

* What did you learn from your customers?

* What did you learn from your employees?

* What did you learn from your competitors?

* What did you learn from your last meeting?

* What did you learn from your most recent accomplishment?

* What did you learn from your most public failure?

THREE REASONS TO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS by Joseph Lalonde

Joseph shared three reasons why leaders should not fall in love with their own ideas. He explained, "It's hard to put an idea that we love to pasture when we feel it could have such a big impact. However, if the idea doesn't pass the test of feasibility, someone has a better idea, or customers don't want it, then you may have to set your idea aside. [But] don't worry. There are plenty of other ideas for you to chase. They'll come to you when it is time for you to pursue them. Just remember, don't fall in love with your ideas."

This is a very important reminder for all leaders because their ideas are not always the best ideas, so they must welcome ideas from team members.

HOW TO UNCOVER YOUR BLINDSPOTS TO BECOME A MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER by Eric Jacobson

Eric wrote, "What you don't see about yourself can hold you back as a leader. That's typical for many leaders. What we don't see is what we can't see: we have blindspots. Your blindspots prevent you from achieving your greatest success." In this post, Eric shared his review of the book entitled, "Blindspotting: How To See What's Holding You Back as a Leader" by Martin Dubin (published in July 2025).

In the book, six types of blindspots were detailed plus guidance to identify and manage them. The six types were: identity blindspots, motive blindspots, trait blindspots, emotion blindspots, intellect blindspots, and behavior blindspots.

Eric shared Dubin's final comments, "We can't avoid blindspots; we can only become aware of them, and then adjust. And to be clear, there is not one type of leader, or one set of attributes. There are many combinations of identities, motivations, traits, intellectual abilities, emotional sensitivities, and behavioral characteristics that can result in success or failure. The lesson of the book isn't about becoming someone other than who you are; it's about becoming the best, most self-aware, most flexible and adaptable leader you can be, without hampering the magic that led you to be able to get where you've gotten in the first place. It's really all about being conscious and strategic with what is within your power to adjust. And you can adjust, make no mistake. People can change."

My gratitude to these amazing leadership experts for writing these posts, and I look forward to their insights during 2026. What leadership posts from 2025 stood out as memorable to you? Chime in and share.

Image Credit: Library of Congress.

Learn more about this post's image:

https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.2050400e/

Check out these Presidential Inauguration Addresses (on March 4th and other dates):

https://historyinpieces.com/research/presidential-inauguration-dates

Gregg's post:

https://triplecrownleadership.com/have-teams-back/

Ahron's post:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resilience/202511/the-best-leaders-acknowledge-their-mistakes

James' post:

https://servetolead.com/what-did-you-learn/

Joseph's post:

https://jmlalonde.com/3-reasons-to-not-fall-in-love-with-your-own-ideas/

Eric's post:

https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com/2025/12/how-to-uncover-your-blindspots-to.html

Friday, February 20, 2026

Be a Better Leader – Especially on National Leadership Day!

Since today is an important day on the business calendar, we’re going to take a short break from my Olympics Leadership Series to celebrate National Leadership Day. My Olympics series will resume tomorrow.

According to National Day website, "The aim of National Leadership Day is to instill the values of leadership in each one of us. A good leader not only leads but inspires those around him/her/they to be the best versions of themselves. Anyone can be a leader — you just have to show up and encourage others to do the same...We know that an organization is only as good as its leaders, which means that having empathetic and just leaders at the top, who lead by example, creates an environment in which everyone is inspired to be their best."

What better way to recognize this important day than by inviting a leadership expert back to my blog? Eric Jacobson and I met through our work with MicroMentor back in 2009, and since then, Eric has appeared on my blog nearly a dozen times in Q&A’s and with inspiring quotes. He also appeared in my first National Leadership Day post in February 2023. Eric has more than a quarter-century of experience successfully leading employees and teams through periods of revenue growth, new product development, and re-engineering. He is an experienced mentor and coach and holds an MBA Degree from Keller Graduate School. His passion is helping individuals to become effective leaders at work, within organizations, and wherever they are called upon to lead and inspire.

QUESTION: Deb Boelkes, author of "The WOW Factor Workplace, How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture," wrote, "It's amazing what can happen when you have the right boss." Today, on National Leadership Day, please share some traits from the best boss you had during your career.

ERIC JACOBSON: Fortunately, I worked for good bosses throughout my career.

The best boss I worked for did the following:

Listened to me.

Backed me up.

Trusted me and respected me.

Gave me feedback to help me improve and grow.

Didn’t micromanage me.

Was even-tempered.

Allowed me to be promoted and then become his peer without displaying jealousy.

Provided me with training and learning experiences.

Didn’t penalize me for making mistakes if I could explain my rationale for taking the action I took and then learning from the experience.

As you can see, I was indeed fortunate to have such a supportive boss.

QUESTION: I'd like to share an important post from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School proposing that all leaders need to be surrounded by a "challenge network." What are your thoughts?

[Link to article: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-you-need-a-challenge-network/]

ERIC JACOBSON: This is a great article, and I agree with what Adam Grant writes in his book, Think Again.

I particularly value this:

Skeptics can point out blind spots, question assumptions, and help us to overcome our weaknesses.

And he writes, “We learn more from people who challenge our thought process than those who affirm our conclusions. Strong leaders engage in their critics and make themselves stronger. Weak leaders silence their critics and make themselves weaker.”

The Wharton School’s article and Grant’s book remind me of my blog post about the 2025 book, Blindspotting: How To See What’s Holding You Back As A Leader, where author Martin Dubin writes, “It turns out that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems. Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can't move forward.”

As you read the book, you’ll learn about six types of blindspots and you’ll learn the practical guidance you need to identify and manage those blindspots.

[Check out my blog post about this book:

https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com/2025/07/how-to-see-whats-holding-you-back-as.html]

QUESTION: Many people become leaders by default, i.e., they don't actually climb the corporate ladder in positions of authority. As a result, they're often set up for failure. What action items would you recommend for new leaders to work on or accomplish in their first 100 days to lead to success?

ERIC JACOBSON: Foremost, I recommend new leaders listen to their employees and teams and keenly observe before making rash decisions or bold changes. Find out what employees and teams are doing right before assuming things are being done incorrectly.

In addition, I recommend new leaders read the book, The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan by George Brant, Jayme A. Check, and Jorge Pedraza. They outline the seven major onboarding land mines that individuals are likely to come across as a new leader. Fortunately, they also discuss the specific points in the first 100 days where you are most likely to encounter the land mines. Also, their recommendations for new leaders are to do the following:

By Day 30, share with your team:

Mission: Why here, why exist, what business are we in?

Vision: Future picture - what we want to become, where we are going.

Values: Beliefs and moral principles that guide attitudes, decisions, and actions.

Objectives: Broadly defined, qualitative performance requirements.

Goals: The quantitative measures of the objectives that define success.

Strategies: Broad choices around how the team will achieve its objectives.

Plans: The most important projects and initiatives that will bring each strategy to fruition.

By Day 60:

Over-invest in early wins to build team confidence.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

A Salute to Veterans

We salute the men and women who've served in the military to protect our country, but how can we show our gratitude?

You can visit a military cemetery or a war memorial, you can visit a military hospital, or you can volunteer for a nonprofit that sends cards or other items to current military personnel.

However, there is something else you can do. You can read about veterans, either nonfiction accounts or fictional stories to better understand the military experience.

I highly recommend THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah. Published in February 2024 (but I read it earlier this year), this historical work of fiction tells the story of a young woman from San Diego who served as a nurse in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Her brother did not survive the war, but she did. Her father had been so embarrassed about her going to war that he lied and told people she went to Florence, Italy instead. When she came home from the war, she suffered from PTSD, and no one at the Veterans Administration believed that she had suffered - and continued to suffer from her trauma - and yet she experienced as much trauma as the men who saw battle.

The book was incredibly well written, the story was so well researched, and upon finishing it, the characters remained with me for a long time. And after finishing the book, I conducted my own research about the impact of American women who served in Vietnam and learned that there is a Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"The Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall just yards from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Wall, on November 11, 1993, in Washington, D.C. One may think that the approval, placement, and financing of a statue for such a just cause would be a relatively simple process – after all, this was the first memorial on the Mall of our nation's Capital to honor the military service of women. To the contrary, the process was long and arduous and included two separate pieces of Congressional legislation and approval of three federal commissions. The dedication of the Vietnam Women's Memorial (VWM) represented the culmination of a 10-year struggle by thousands of volunteers who overcame controversy, rejection, and challenge by those who thought that a women's memorial was not needed."

The website explanation continued, "Vietnam Veterans were not welcomed home as the country desperately tried to put the war behind it. Before founding of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, little was known of the heroism of American women. Yet over 265,000 military and civilian women served beside their brother soldiers. Approximately 10,000 American military women were stationed in Vietnam during the war. Ninety percent were nurses. Others served as physicians, physical therapists, and personnel in the medical field, air traffic control, military intelligence, administration, and in many other capacities. Civilian women also served in Vietnam as news correspondents and workers for the Red Cross, the USO, Special Services, the American Friends Service Committee, Catholic Relief Services, and other humanitarian organizations.

Many of these women were wounded or killed in the crossfire. The Vietnam Women's Memorial Project gave these women veterans a voice by highlighting their stories and educating the public. It has helped to tell their story through the mass print and electronic media as well as in schoolrooms and universities, and at conferences, seminars and conventions. As more and more Vietnam women read and heard of their sisters' service, they came forward with their own experiences. Many of these women had never before shared their personal experiences with others – the pain was too deep. Now, through their poems, songs, and stories, the healing of women veterans has begun. Silent no more, women veterans have a special role in discussions surrounding a call to arms, the role of women in the military, and veterans benefits. Their insights into war make their contributions in peacetime as invaluable as their heroism in Vietnam."

Glenna Goodacre, the sculptor of the Vietnam Women's Memorial, explained, "My desire to create a lasting tribute to the American women serving in Vietnam is founded upon my deep respect for each of them, and my heartfelt prayer for their healing and hope. I have been humbled by the enormity of such a task yet incredibly honored by the overwhelming gratitude of the veterans. The emphasis of this tribute is centered on their emotions: their compassion, their anxiety, their fatigue, and above all, their dedication.

My first concern in designing this sculpture was to arrange the four figures in a composition that is interesting from all angles: a true sculpture in the round. The photos from Vietnam often included stacks of sandbags. It seemed natural for a nurse – in a moment of crisis – to be supported by sandbags as she serves as the life support for a wounded soldier lying across her lap. The standing woman looks up, in search of a med-i-vac helicopter or, perhaps, in search of help from God. The kneeling figure has been called "the heart and soul" of the piece because so many vets see themselves in her. She stares at any empty helmet, her posture reflecting her despair, frustrations, and all the horrors of war. The soldier's face is half-covered by a bandage, creating an anonymous figure with which veterans can identify. Even though he is wounded, he will live. I want this to be a monument for the living."

Let's celebrate all Veterans, men and women, with gratitude.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Don't Forget that Timeless Marketing Mantra: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

If you're a bibliophile like me, do you wonder how publishers chose a book's cover design? Are there photographs or drawings on the cover? Are there bright colors on the cover? Is the cover clearly targeting a specific audience?

Book covers are important because they can influence reading choices; convey information such as a book's genre; generate interest and entice readers to learn more about a book; set the tone for the reading experience and create an emotional connection with a reader; stand out from the competition (other books); and be a marketing tool that helps sell a book.

According to Tim Kreider's article, "The Decline and Fall of the Book Cover" in The New York Times, "The main principles of design - in books, appliances, cars, clothing, everything - are: (1) Your product must be bold and eye-catching and conspicuously different from everyone else's, but (2) Not too much!"

According to Clare Thorp, "Covers can be a swift way to signal genre, but the good ones do more than that. They give face to a book's personality. They're what will make you pick it up in the first place, then keep it on your shelf to remind you what it meant to you."

According to Marielle Segarra in an article entitled, "Why It's OK to Judge a Book by Its Cover" from NPR, "I am the queen of judge a book by its cover. The reason you can [do that] is because there is a lot of effort and marketing that goes into making covers that tell you what's in the book, what kind of person it's for and what to expect. When you start to look at the books that you've loved in your life, you might notice some trends. When I look at my bookshelves, I have the most black books and the most red books, but I don't have a lot of green books. Whatever they're doing with the marketing for green books, not for me. I don't know if you should use a cover to pick a book 100 percent of the time. I have read books with gorgeous covers that I did not like. I have also read books that had embarrassing covers that I loved. But if you're at a bookstore trying to decide which of the three or four books to buy, pick what speaks to you and jumps out at you."

As I picked up a recent book to read, I wondered about this topic because there were many different covers based on the country where it was sold. The book is LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus. And if you've already read the book or watched the Apple+ television series, then you know what all the buzz is about. The simple plot line is this, "In the 1950's, Elizabeth Zott's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere; she accepts a job on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of housewives way more than recipes."

But back to this post's topic, the book's covers. According to The New York Times, "The United States edition, with its bubble gum pink cover bearing a stylized woman's face peering over a pair of cat-eye sunglasses, reads as overtly feminine, a light beach read for a day off. One can, of course, read any number of things at the beach. But some readers, at least, have been surprised to open it and find the story of Zott, a brilliant woman whose fetching chignon is secured by a No. 2 pencil also intended to ward off sexual assaults."

James Daunt, Barnes & Noble's Chief Executive Officer, explained, "Aiming the novel at a female readership is a bit pigeonholing, ultimately, the book has dominated the cover. And whether because of the cover or in spite of it, sales have been off the charts."

The covers in other countries paint a different picture: primary colors in Britain, sober in Germany, and surreal in Estonia.

Based on the letters the author received, LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY struck a chord with a wide range of readers, although the American cover might have scared off men. Garmus recalled talking to an all-male book club whose members were initially dissuaded by the cover's palette. According to Garmus, "The book is not anti-men, it's anti-sexism."

And according to Garmus when asked if she was furious about the pink chick-lit cover, "All I can say is, the publisher did let me have input, and I told them I thought it looked like chick-lit (nothing against chick-lit, but this book isn't that). Still, publishers have a lot of experience knowing what an audience will respond to, and they thought this was the best way. They've been great to work with; we just didn't see eye-to-eye on this. You can Google other covers from other nations and see if you think anyone else got a little closer. I think Germany and the UK both did a nice job."

According to The Publishing Post, "The US and UK cover designs, whilst both striking, are also quite different. The UK Cover is separated into four bright block squares, reminiscent of the periodic table, and can also be found under the hardcover jacket. The word "In" is stylized to look like the element Indium on the periodic table, providing another clear nod to chemistry, while a woman wearing a dress and heels is holding a television set. The screen shows a woman wearing a lab coat using a chemistry set, depicting Elizabeth’s job as a television cooking host during which she incorporates chemistry, her true love. By contrast, the US edition is pink with a woman's face peering over cat-eye sunglasses. This cartoon style design is especially popular for the romance genre. Whilst there is a love interest, this book is not a romance. In the US cover, the more light-hearted design contrasts with the contents as the book incorporates very serious themes such as sexual assault. However, there is still a nod to chemistry: a chemistry set is reflected in Elizabeth's glasses indicating that chemistry is constantly on her mind. The number two pencil which secures her hair references a pivotal scene and makes the character appear studious. Overall, the UK cover more accurately matches the book's tone but both are eye-catching."

In addition, here are two other books whose covers presented questions about content and target audiences:

AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins featured blue birds, similar to traditional Mexican Talavera tiles, that were surrounded by barbed wire. Birds are symbols of peace, freedom, and hope - while the barbed wire kept people away from those things. The protagonist was on a journey to be free, like the birds, as she tried to escape her version of barbed wire.

THE LONELY HEARTS BOOK CLUB by Lucy Gilmore featured the illustration of a woman with bold colorful lines intended to be books. At its core, the book celebrated the power of friendship, the magic of books, and the unexpected joy found in unlikely connections, and while some men may think that the cover only appealed to women, there is no doubt that the cover's colors conveyed joy.

Have you read LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY? Did the cover entice you to read the book?

Since marketing is such an integral part of book publishing, what can your brand learn from this analysis to improve your brand storytelling?

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Inspiring Tips to Celebrate #NationalLeadershipDay!

Today, February 20, is National Leadership Day. According to National Day website, "The aim of National Leadership Day is to inculcate the values of leadership in each one of us. A good leader not only leads but inspires those around him/her/they to be the best versions of themselves. Anyone can be a leader — you just have to show up and encourage others to do the same...We know that an organization is only as good as its leaders, which means that having empathetic and just leaders at the top who lead by example creates an environment in which everyone is inspired to be their best."

Therefore, today is an especially appropriate day for Erika Andersen to appear on my blog for a conversation about leadership. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Erika for many years, and she first appeared in a Q&A on my blog in 2011. She is the founding partner of Proteus, where she and her colleagues support leaders at all levels to get ready and stay ready to meet the future. Erika advises senior executives and also shares her insights through her books, speaking engagements, and social media. In addition to her latest book, Change from the Inside Out, she is the author of four previous best-selling books: Be Bad First, Leading So People Will Follow, Being Strategic, and Growing Great Employees. Erika is also a popular leadership blogger at Forbes.com, and the creator and host of the Proteus Leader Show podcast.

QUESTION: One of your inspiring quotes is, "Great leaders don't do it alone...they get help." What are some tips for new leaders in order to embrace this concept of collaboration?
ERIKA ANDERSEN: One thing that gets in the way of collaboration for new leaders is that they’ve often been socialized to think that "Leaders should have all the answers." Allowing yourself to get curious as a new leader – about your team, their likes and dislikes, their skills – is a pretty gentle first step toward collaboration. For example, when you’re meeting with your folks, either individually or as a group, ask curious questions: "What should I know about you as a team?" or "What do you think are your/our most important strengths?" or "How can we best help each other succeed?"

And how you respond is even more important than asking the questions. Listen carefully, and make sure you understand – either by asking clarifying questions, or by summarizing what you’ve heard to make sure you’ve got their main points. If you immediately dismiss or disagree with what you’ve heard, without considering it, that sends a strong message that you aren’t really interested in or open to what they have to say.

After making sure you’ve understood, ask them how you might incorporate their insights and opinions into the work you’ll be doing together. For instance, if a team member says, "I think one of our biggest strengths is that we look for ways to overcome even difficult obstacles," you might respond, "How do you think we could use that strength in reaching our current goals?"

Voila, you’re on the path to collaboration.

QUESTION: In a post you wrote for Linkedin, "This is the first time in history that four distinct generations are together in the workplace: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z." What are some insights to help everyone work together?

[Post referenced:
What Planet Are You From? Five Ways To Get Along With People Who Aren't Like You
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2015/05/06/what-planet-are-you-from-5-ways-to-get-along-with-people-who-arent-like-you/]

ERIKA ANDERSEN: I think three of the five approaches I suggested in the article you’ve referenced are particularly helpful when working cross-generationally.

First, realizing that other people are not you. It might sound silly, but when we’re dealing with people who have different assumptions or outlooks, we tend to filter their responses as though those people are us. In other words, that their responses mean the same thing as they would if we were saying or doing them. An example: a few years ago, I was coaching a Gen X executive, who was very irritated with an extremely smart and ambitious Millennial employee. He had asked her how he could become a vice president, and she was complaining to me about it.

I asked, "Why do you think he was asking you that?"

She responded, "Because he thinks he should get promoted right away, and that’s just ridiculous – he’s just been promoted to manager."

I then said, "Maybe that’s what you would have meant by that, if you’d asked the same question at his age. And I’m betting you never would have asked it."

"Darn right," she grumbled.

I proposed, "But what if he was asking something very different. Millennials are used to being able to get all the critical information they need online, and he may be frustrated about the lack of a clear path to get from where he is to where he wants to be. He may just be asking for that pathway."

She acknowledged the possibility, and they went on to have a good conversation.

Leveraging complementarity vs. similarity is also an important tool in working with other generations. For example, Boomer and Gen X bosses can take advantage of most Gen Z employees’ knowledge of and comfort with AI and other forms of technology, and work with those younger employees to figure out how to best incorporate those technological advances for better and faster results.

Millennial managers - and now even newly-minted Gen Z managers – can leverage Boomer and Gen X team members’ experience and connections in an organization or an industry to smooth difficult negotiations and avoid unseen pitfalls.

I’d encourage managers to do this "out loud," perhaps, by having a meeting where each person can share how they think the team could benefit from the strengths, skills, or knowledge they bring as a result of their age and the environment in which they grew up.

I predict people will find out a lot of interesting and useful things about each other, and it will also help to promote the final approach: starting from neutral. Unfortunately, one of the most common responses to differences between generations is to assume that different means WORSE. This seems to have been happening for most of human history: witness this quote from Socrates: "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise."

If you can make a habit of saying to yourself, "This person sees things differently than me – I want to find out more about why," instead of "This ____ (fill in the generational blank) is so wrong/bad/unprofessional," then you’ll be well on your way to figuring out how to work with great people of any age.

QUESTION: You wrote a post for Forbes comparing great leaders to movie heroes. Who are some recent movie heroes that demonstrate effective leadership?

[Post referenced:
What Do Great Leaders And Movie Heroes Have In Common?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2015/07/20/what-do-great-leaders-and-movie-heroes-have-in-common/]

ERIKA ANDERSEN: My husband and I rarely watch movies these days, but we do watch a lot of TV! There are so many really well-made shows these days, and we especially like good science fiction.

One show we’ve been enjoying is Strange New Worlds, the most recent show in the Star Trek franchise. I’ve really been enjoying Captain Christopher Pike, as played by Anson Mount. One thing I’ve noticed is that Mount, in contrast to earlier versions of the show - particularly the original with William Shatner – is much more vulnerable. He lets his crew know when he’s struggling with a decision, and invites their input. He’s also much more likely to listen when a crew member who he respects disagrees with him.

I find this heartening, because I believe that TV and movies tend to reflect the beliefs and mores of popular culture, and what this says to me is that we, as a culture, are generally starting to be open to more collaborative and egalitarian approaches to leadership (back to your initial question!)

Thursday, February 1, 2024

The Best Book I Read in 2023

Did you read a lot of books last year? I recently reviewed the list of books I purchased from Amazon and local bookstores and realized I read 50 works of fiction during 2023. This means that, during 2024, I have set a goal of more than 50. And Goodreads has made it easy by providing a hashtag for the project #GoodreadsChallenge.

Before I look through my "must-read" books - both fiction and nonfiction - and my "it would be nice to read" list, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on my favorite book of 2023.

I may have been late to the adventure, but I read REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES in late-2023. Simply put, it was a wonderful book, but before I dive in with my reasons, I would like to extend a shout-out of gratitude to Melanie Bell and her Leaders Who Fiction book club for the recommendation to read the book and the virtual discussion that took place in late-November.

I don't want to provide any spoilers because I believe everyone should read the book, so I will share a brief overview: An elderly lady meets an octopus, makes friends with an octopus, and meets her extended family.

Naturally, there is much, much more to the story, but I don't want to slip up and give away any of the exciting layers. And the title has an interesting twist too. Suffice it to say that this story will remain with me for a very long time.

According to an article in The New York Times, "Shelby Van Pelt, a former financial consultant, first had the idea that morphed into the novel in 2013, when she took a fiction writing workshop at Emory University in Atlanta. One of the assignments was to write a short story from an unusual perspective, and she came up with an acerbic octopus who was bored and frustrated by his confinement in an aquarium. Her teacher pulled her aside and suggested she build something larger around the character, and she began writing vignettes about the octopus."

So, if you have not yet read this book, add it to the top of your MUST READ LIST. You'll be glad you did!

Article in The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/books/remarkably-bright-creatures-shelby-van-pelt.html

Interview with the LA Public Library:
https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/interview-author-shelby-van-pelt

If you'd like to join the next Leaders Who Fiction virtual book club meeting, check out @LeadersWhoFiction on Instagram for details.

Image Credit: Amazon.

Monday, September 18, 2023

Let’s Celebrate Global Company Culture Day!

Do you know what today is? It’s Global Company Culture Day, observed every year on September 18, it is a day for companies and organizational leaders to focus on ensuring that their corporate culture functions in a way that maximizes productivity, profitability, and the happiness of employees.

This day offers an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the onboarding process to integrate new employees into the corporate culture and to explain an organization’s culture. Does your org have a detailed and consistent onboarding practice? Are there specific employees (representing different departments) that participate in new employee onboarding? What elements do you include?

I’d like to propose a book that should be part of the onboarding program for all organizations: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. While the book was first published in 1964 for children, it has been translated into numerous languages. While I read the book first as a child, the story has remained with me for decades. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it.

According to Wikipedia:

“The book follows the lives of an apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving," and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, a middle-aged man, and finally an elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life.

In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing its trunk, swinging from its branches, carving "Me + T (Tree)" into the bark, and eating its apples. However, as the boy grows older, he spends less time with the tree and tends to visit it only when he wants material items at various stages of his life, or not coming to the tree alone (such as bringing a lady friend to the tree and carving "Me +Y.L." (her initials, often assumed to be an acronym for "young love") into the tree). In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of itself, which he can transform into material items, such as money (from its apples), a house (from its branches), and a boat (from its trunk). With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy."

In the final pages, both the tree and the boy feel the sting of their respective "giving" and "taking" nature. When only a stump remains for the tree (including the carving "Me + T"), it is not happy, at least at that moment. The boy returns as a tired elderly man to meet the tree once more. It tells him it is sad because it cannot provide him shade, apples, or any materials like in the past. He ignores this (because his teeth are too weak for apples, and he is too old to swing on branches and too tired to climb her trunk) and states that all he wants is "a quiet place to sit and rest," which the tree, who is weak being just a stump, could provide. With this final stage of giving, "the Tree was happy."

As you can see, the moral of the story is to be a giver rather than a taker, and this is an important lesson to include in an onboarding overview. If you want a positive corporate culture with long-term positive, happy, and talented employees, consider adding this book to your must-read list for all employees!

Image Credit: Amazon.

Thursday, April 27, 2023

How Magic and Happiness Impact Leadership

Today is National Tell A Story Day, and we’re celebrating an amazing storyteller and leadership expert, but first, a little background. According to National Today, “National Tell A Story Day was first celebrated in 2009 by George Rafeedie, who runs a creative marketing agency called Tell Your Story, Inc. His business relies on promoting and marketing a brand through storytelling techniques. By creating a story with the product as the main character, the product is central to the plot and is viewed as important in continuing the storyline. Storytelling, at its most basic form, thus, contributes to highlighting certain themes, be it for moral purposes, and/or entertainment.”

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Erika Andersen for many years, and she first appeared in a Q&A on my blog back in 2011. If you aren’t familiar with her books, blog posts, guest posts, Twitter feed, podcasts, or websites, get ready to be inspired. Highlights of our recent discussion about leadership and workplace culture follow a brief introduction.

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus, where she and her colleagues support leaders at all levels to get ready and stay ready to meet the future. Erika advises senior executives, and she also shares her insights through her books, speaking engagements, and social media. In addition to her latest book, Change from the Inside Out, she is the author of four previous best-selling books: Be Bad First, Leading So People Will Follow, Being Strategic and Growing Great Employees. Erika is also a popular leadership blogger at Forbes.com, and the creator and host of the Proteus Leader Show podcast.

QUESTION: In a post for Forbes entitled, "In This New Era Of Hybrid Work, What Makes A Great Team?" you described five key elements for success. What were the highlights?

(Read the full post here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2022/11/09/in-this-new-era-of-hybrid-work-what-makes-a-great-team/?sh=544455d9416e)

ERIKA ANDERSEN: I had written a post for Forbes in 2015 explaining the five high-performance team attributes that we use as framework to help leaders improve their teams. Last fall, my partner Jeff, pointed out that since we’ve found those same five attributes are key to success in hybrid and long-distance teams, it could be helpful to write a new article to share that truth – and thus, this post!

Our observation is that the most effective teams have these five things: clear goals that are meaningful to everyone on the team; agreed-upon, simple measures of progress toward those goals; well-defined roles that are aligned with the goals; consistent, efficient team processes – ways of working together; and high trust among the members.

It turns out that these things are even MORE important in hybrid and distance teams. When people are all in the same physical location, there tends to be a good deal of informal, ongoing communication and interaction that can make up – to a certain extent – for a lack of clarity around these elements.

But when people spend most of their time not being face-to-face with their teammates, it’s all too easy to get out of sync and operate at cross-purposes without those good “stakes in the ground” of goals, measures, roles, process, and trust.

Making sure that you and your hybrid or distance team clarify and then rely on these five elements will help assure that you can still get great results and enjoy your colleagues while operating in this changed world of work that we all live in today.

QUESTION: In a post on your blog entitled, "Practical Magic," you wrote: "Next time someone in your personal or professional life suggests a way to move forward or solve a problem that you don’t understand, or can’t quite see, before you say no, take a moment and ask yourself, 'Do we believe in each others’ magic?'" Please explain.

(Read the full post here: https://erikaandersen.com/2017/11/06/practical-magic/)

ERIKA ANDERSEN: As I noted in the post, I learned this phrase from my son. He is a deeply intuitive leader and collaborator – and people of all kinds love working with him.

What “believing in someone’s magic” means is having faith that that person – based on who you know them to be and the experiences you’ve had together – can imagine and do things that you aren’t capable of – and that you may not even understand.

Believing in someone’s magic is that moment when your spouse or colleague or friend, who you love and trust, says “I want to do this and I can make it happen” … and even if you can’t see it, even if you’re not quite sure what they’re talking about, you support their effort with full energy and hope.

Believing in the magic of those around you is a powerful way to let go of your own limitations, and it’s a powerful way for groups and teams of all kinds to be able to achieve new, exciting things that are beyond the capabilities of any single member of the team.

Monday, February 20, 2023

Let's Celebrate #NationalLeadershipDay!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2022/07/17/customer-service-the-marriott-way/?sh=242dd5037807

Marriott delivers excellent customer service by following these practices (further described within the Forbes article):
* The fundamentals of customer service happen one person at a time.
* Understand your customers: understanding starts with listening.
* Mistakes handled well can create a stronger bond.
* Embrace the digital customer experience.
* Employees must be empowered to take care of customers.

QUESTION: Many people believe that leadership is only possible with a title. But there are many ways to lead and be a leader. Can you explain some?

Eric Jacobson: You definitely don’t need to have a leadership title to be a leader. Here are 30 ways to be a good leader at work or away from work. The more of these you do, the stronger a leader you become:

1.   Build trust with your colleagues.
2.   Be courageous, quick, and fair.
3.   Constantly challenge your team to do better.
4.   Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own.
5.   Communicate clearly and often.
6.   View every problem as an opportunity to grow.
7.   Summarize group consensus after each decision point during a meeting.
8.   Praise when compliments are earned.
9.   Be decisive.
10.   Say "thank you" and sincerely mean it.
11.   Teach something new to your team.
12.   Show respect for all team members.
13.   Follow through when you promise to do something.
14.   Respond to questions quickly and fully.
15.   Give credit where credit is due.
16.   Take an interest in your employees and their personal milestone events.
17.   Mix praise with constructive feedback for how to make improvement.
18.   Foster mutual commitment
19.   Admit your mistakes.
20.   Show trust.
21.   Encourage individualism and welcome input.
22.   Be willing to change your decisions.
23.   Be a good role model.
24.   Be humble.
25.   End every meeting with a follow-up To Do list.
26.   Explain the process and the reason for the decisions you make.
27.   Encourage personal growth and promote training, mentoring, and external education.
28.   Seek guidance when you don't have the answer.
29.   Don't interrupt.
30.   Ask questions to clarify.

QUESTION: What inspiring leadership books have you read recently?

Eric Jacobson: A very inspiring leadership book I’ve read recently is Compassionate Leadership: How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter. This book is timely and compelling.

A favorite key leadership takeaway from the book is where Hougaard and Carter explain how to unlearn management and relearn being human. That entails:
* Remembering the Golden Rule.
* Putting yourself in their shoes.
* Listening intensively.
* Always giving more than you take.
* Asking yourself, How can I be of benefit?
* Stretching people to help them see their greater potential.
* Helping people to see what they really need to be happy.

Another favorite recent read is, Leading with Heart, by John Baird and Edward Sullivan. They share that heart-led companies have:
* Lower turnover.
* Decentralized decision-making.
* Healthy and constructive creative conflict.
* Rigorous debate and truth-seeking in meetings.
* Strategic alignment.
* Sharing of resources to support company goals.
* Seamless flow of crucial information leading to early problem detection.

And, for a different perspective on where to learn leadership lessons, check out Joseph Lalonde’s book, Reel Leadership. He delves into the leaderships lessons one can find in movies. First, he sets the stage by chronicling the history of film, the history of leadership, and the science of learning, and then he shares some of the best leadership lessons from his vast catalogue of movie watching through the years. If you are a movie buff and hungry for leadership lessons, this is a quick, entertaining, educational read.

QUESTION: If you could dine with any three leaders - from history or business - who would they be, and why?

Eric Jacobson: I would like to have dined with Nelson Mandela and Maya Angelou from history and Herbert Kelleher from business.

I would want to learn so much for Nelson Mandela about his years in prison, his passion for activism, and all about his philosophy on leadership. It’s his leadership quotes like these that I find inspiring, and I feel I could have learned much from him:

* "Lead from the back - and let others believe they are in front."
* "The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall."
* "It always seems impossible until it's done."
* "I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles."
* "I've learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
* "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

Maya Angelou: I find equally inspiring and imagine I would have learned a lot from her while dinning together. Through her long and extensive career that included poetry, plays, screenplays for television and film, directing, acting, and public speaking, she certainly learned much that I would be interested in hearing more about. Furthermore, she was authentic, dignified, courageous, and enduring – often a voice of reason, and a leader with many lessons and experiences worth hearing about.

From business, I always wanted to meet Herbert Kelleher. He was the co-founder, later CEO, and chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines until his death in 2019. In general, Southwest and its company culture have always intrigued me. From what I’ve read, Herbert (Herb) was a strong, visible, caring leader that shaped a culture that set Southwest apart from many other air carriers and many businesses overall. Under his leadership, Southwest has consistently been named among the most admired companies in America in Fortune magazine’s annual poll. He helped create a corporate culture which made Southwest employees well known for taking themselves lightly but their jobs seriously.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Have You Ever Participated in a Leadership Book Club?

In 2018, thanks to Twitter, I met Katherine Spinney, a fellow advocate for effective leadership. We collaborated on two Q&A posts here on my Blog, and we also collaborated on a TweetChat held on Twitter in April 2020 (all three links appear at the end of this Q&A).

During the crazy covid era, Katherine created and led a leadership book club during the summer months of 2021, and I learned a great deal by reading the chosen books and participating in the discussions. However, as time went on, I wondered how Katherine chose six books (out of thousands on the topic), thus the impetus for this Q&A, which follows a brief intro about Katherine.

Katherine Spinney has spent over a decade in executive leadership positions and now has the great privilege of supporting leaders to develop them and their teams more effectively. Through a trademarked model of leadership, Lead with Your MIND, Katherine goes beyond the traditional model of skill development and combines it with work around mindset, investment, and desire. Her vision is to help build leaders' confidence and impact to better serve their teams and ultimately better serve their clients. Katherine believes that work should provide a source of satisfaction, and she is confident that it can and should be possible for everyone. Visit her website at https://www.katherinespinney.com/ and connect on Twitter and Instagram @CoachKat2017 and on Facebook /CoachKat2017.

QUESTION: Why did you decide to create the leadership book club?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: Although I have been an avid reader most of my life, I had never been in a book club. During the pandemic, I was suddenly part of several and loved them! That sparked the idea to create a leadership book club. A central theme in the work I do with leaders is the importance of consistent investment in growth and the exploration of different ways to grow. Reading is just one of these ways, and it can be a powerful one, particularly combined with reflection and discussion with other leaders.

QUESTION: How did you choose the six books?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: It was a little selfish in that I wanted to choose books I hadn’t read yet (all but one), but mostly I was looking for books that focused on leadership from a variety of perspectives through a variety of voices. One could be considered a classic, while the rest were more recent, but all were highly acclaimed. One focused on management, others on leadership, and some on where the two intersected. One was about the rules (or “laws”), and another was about breaking the rules. Despite the different perspectives, there were consistent themes that I hope became clear to those in the group.

QUESTION: Which book did you enjoy the most, and why?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: I fell in love with “First Break All the Rules” from Gallup, which was not a surprise because I have followed their research for years and really appreciate their approach. As a team leader, it can be so overwhelming, especially at the beginning, and it can be challenging to move beyond the minutiae of the day-to-day. This book challenges us to really get to know our team members, understand what they bring to the table, and then make sure we are giving them every possible opportunity to contribute those gifts. I also really appreciated their framing of talents and their place at work. I highly recommend (and have!) this book to all team leaders.

QUESTION: Which book disappointed you, and why?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: Laws of Leadership was disappointing in some ways. It is a classic, and I suppose it’s easy to pick on the establishment, but there was one moment in particular when the author awkwardly tried to humble himself by drawing an equivalence between his leadership strengths to the many other strengths of his wife. And before he described those strengths, I just knew they were going to be something traditionally feminine and home related, which they were. He lauded her fashion sense and decorating ability, both skills to be sure, but his attempt to make it seem that he believed these to be of equal importance to his leadership skills rang insincere to me. Other concepts in the book seemed outdated, and I did not find the laws particularly inspiring or thought-provoking.

QUESTION: From First, Break All the Rules, what did you think about the Q12 index/statements?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: The Gallup12 came out of extensive research on 1,000,000 workers across the country. The goal was to try and understand what helped people feel satisfied at work. The 12 statements are the result of that research. I share the Gallup12 in my sessions all the time and encourage team leaders to use them in their work with their teams and their individual team members to understand what they need. It is a wonderful tool to spark discussion and improve team leadership and culture.

On a related note, here’s a link to a previous post on this Blog featuring the Q12 Index, in which I interviewed Michelle Braden (@CoachingLeaders on Twitter) in March 2013:
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2013/03/effective-leadership-engaged-employees.html

QUESTION: From John Maxwell's book, which of the 21 irrefutable laws was the most important to you, and why?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: Most (arguably all) of the laws are fairly standard and non-controversial so they all have their place in understanding what makes leadership effective. If I had to choose one that was most important to me, I would choose law #5, The Law of Addition, which simply states that leaders provide value by serving others. This is the entire purpose of leadership and it takes a while for many leaders to embrace that. Traditional views of leadership where one person gets to make all the rules on behalf of those they lead have thankfully been proven ineffective, though unfortunately they continue in practice. When I work with leaders, we spend a lot of time discussing their motivation and vision. If it doesn’t center their team, I know we have a lot of work to do!

TWEET THIS: Leaders provide value by serving others. (Credit to John Maxwell’s Law number 5 – the law of addition.) ~@CoachKat2017 #LeadershipTip #EmployeeExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: My favorite book from the six was The Leader's Guide to Unconscious Bias. I would go so far to say that it should be a "must-read" for everyone who works with people. What was your favorite take-away from that book?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: The authors state early and often that confronting unconscious bias is not about placing blame or feeling guilty, but instead, being part of the solution. We are so quick to get defensive at the mere thought of being biased, and the authors do a great job of normalizing this bias while not absolving us of the responsibility to do something about it. I also loved the concept that we are “blind to our blindness” and that we need to work with other people to help us see what we are unable to see.

QUESTION: Did reading these six books further clarify the differences between managers and leaders, or muddy the waters even further?
KATHERINE SPINNEY: Only in the sense that it has deepened my inability (stubbornness?) to see the importance of stressing the difference. Great leaders need strong management skills, and great managers need leadership skills. All the charts and Venn diagrams on the subject have done nothing but reinforce my belief that it is a false dichotomy and one that does not help those in important positions to support and serve others.

TWEET THIS: Great leaders need strong management skills, and great managers need leadership skills. ~@CoachKat2017 #LeadershipTip #EmployeeExperience #EmployerBranding #DebbieLaskeysBlog

My gratitude to Katherine for creating and leading an incredibly insightful leadership book club and for appearing here on my Blog – here’s hoping that she creates and leads another book club one day soon!

Image Credits: Debbie Laskey and Katherine Spinney.

ADDITIONAL READING:

2021 Q&A:
Leadership Is ALWAYS About Those You Lead!
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2021/02/leadership-is-always-about-those-you.html

2018 Q&A:
How Can Leaders Help Employees Exceed Expectations? It’s All About the Culture!
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2018/08/how-can-leaders-help-employees-exceed.html

2020 TweetChat Highlights:
https://wakelet.com/wake/tqlW4MASG2XSO4B4WTJg6