Orison Swett Marden was one of the earliest and most prolific writers on success and what would become the self-help genre. In his book Pushing to the Front (Volume 1) published in 1911 he wrote: “Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.”
The weather here in the Denver area was extraordinary this past Saturday. Temperatures set a record high of 74 degrees. Within 12 hours the temperature was 28 degrees with snow not only coming down but blowing sideways due to high winds. Today, Monday, the sun is back and the snow is melting. The wild and…
Leadership Lessons ezine by Mark Sanborn
This past weekend I spoke at the United State Air Force Academy’s 15 annual National Leadership and Character Development Symposium. Over 4,000 cadets, visiting students, business, education and military leaders gathered to spend several days exploring the theme Impassioned Citizenship: Can One Make a Difference? I was honored to be invited to speak. My work…
I don’t often use the word “ought” but I’m making an exception: if you’re a leader, you really ought to read Peggy Noonan’s column Declarations in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Her insights are consistently exceptional. This past weekend she wrote about Barack Obama and his speaking skills. She agrees that he…
How many important conquests have ended in a whimper? How often have leaders declared victory too soon? When is it prudent to declare success? These are important considerations for leaders. Cloudy outcomes are more common than decisive victories. Credibility is undermined by prematurely declared success or a fizzled outcome and followers are discouraged or even…
Those were the words John McCain used to describe Barack Obama’s campaign promises. While I’m not sure I agree, it was a lovely turn of the phrase. Unfortunately I find McCain’s promises to be substantive and boring. That’s a problem for him. Leaders, including politicians, are always challenged to deliver meaningful and substantive messages in…
The president of an organization I work with was complaining about being second guessed. He had made an unpopular decision and everyone, it seemed, thought they could have done better. My advice: Get used to it. Being second-guessed goes with the territory. Often the only people who will truly sympathize with you are other leaders…
Can a company be a remarkable performer? I believe it can. For an example, read my post about Boston Beer Company’s remarkable performance in making hops available to smaller brewers who were in desparate need of the critical ingredient. Read about it here.
In the age of political correctness and relativism, we are often led to believe that all opinions have equal value. They don’t. Some are right, some are wrong and most are somewhere in-between. We do ourselves and our culture a disservice by accepting the opinion that fried eggs are covertly running our planet has equal…