One day my assistant informed me over the intercom, “There is a Cadet Green on line two. I think you’ll want to talk to him.” That was my introduction to Cadet Shawn Green, U.S. Air Force Academy. The Air Force Academy had been in the papers a great deal lately for various challenges it was…
Successful people are often asked for free advice. I don’t mean the kind of requests one gets at a cocktail party like “Jim, you’re a financial planner. Where would you invest $5,000 right now?” I mean time-intensive requests like, “Would you meet me for coffee and tell me how I can get started doing what…
“Communication is both a science and an art.” – Mark Sanborn 6) Entertain to engage Voltaire is reputed to have said that any speaking style that wasn’t boring was a good style. That’s because being boring is the unforgivable sin of communication. For a leader to be heard and understood, he or she must break…
Leadership Lessons ezine by Mark Sanborn
“Communication is both a science and an art.” – Mark Sanborn Communication is the Tool, Not the Objective A sales manager approached me after I finished speaking about leadership at his association’s meeting. His mood seemed somewhere between perplexed and provoked. “You talked about how leaders communicate persuasively,” he complained. “Even with the word ‘persuasive’…
My late 20’s and early 30’s were spent seriously exploring the world and adventuring. One trip I made was to Ecuador. For several days the group I was part of camped on the Agua Rico River in the Ecuadorian rain forest. Our guide was a man whose parents had been bible translators who had come…
A Mark Sanborn Classic You’ve probably asked and answered one of the most common questions posed to adults in modern history more times than you can recall: “What do you do?” The repeated asking of this question over and over is not a testament to the significance of the answer, but rather a window onto…
Everyone matters. Everyone makes a difference. The cynic might argue that he or she can choose to be neutral and make neither a positive nor a negative difference. In practice, that just isn’t so. Have you recently encountered a person who just didn’t seem engaged? They seemed wrapped up in their own private world, and…
We are pleased to feature a recent article written by Jeff Thredgold in this month’s Leadership Lessons. Jeff is a very smart guy and the only economist to earn the CSP designation from the National Speakers Association. His piece titled, Wouldn’t It Be Nice If…, follows this month’s article. Enjoy. Mark The $1500 Beverage I…
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) met in San Diego this past week and I addressed several hundred of their members on the topic of my next book, “You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader”. (We want your opinion; see the end of the article for more information.) One of the points…