The Two Most Important Things a Leader Needs to Be Able to Say
The Two Most Important Things a Leader Needs to Be Able to Say Let me share something I’ve come to believe pretty strongly over the years. There are two statements every leader needs…
Your Words Resources
The best leaders understand their words need to be thoughtful and empowering. They strive to provide clarity about the mission, vision, values, and strategic direction of the organization. Every encounter is an opportunity to connect with and empower your employees. They should walk away from the encounter feeling good about their connection to the company.
Blog Posts
10 Powerful Reasons For Financial Transparency
As a business owner, you already carry the weight. You understand the stakes. But you don’t have to do it alone... Transparency enables you to amplify your leadership—to equip your team with the tools, trust,…
The Weight of Words – A Late-Night Conversation with Abraham Lincoln
What can modern leaders learn from Abraham Lincoln? I thought that Memorial Day was a fitting time to write this blog. More than a century after his death, Lincoln's approach to leadership continues…
The Leadership Wheel: A Comprehensive Guide to Effective Leadership
Throughout my journey as a leader, business coach, teacher, and mentor, I’ve come to realize that leadership isn’t a final destination—it’s a continuous process of growth and self-discovery. I’m sharing this blog to…
The Need for Honesty: A Cornerstone Virtue for Success, Healthy Relationships and Reduced Stress
Honesty is all about being truthful, sincere, and straightforward in our thoughts, words, and actions. It’s more than just avoiding lies; it’s about embracing transparency, authenticity, and integrity in every aspect of life.
How You Move from Survival to Success Mode As A Leader
There are many times in life when we can't control what happens to us. External factors do have a tendency to make themselves known at inopportune moments. And if business leadership was easy,…
Humility is an Essential Virtue in Life and Leadership
“Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of self.” – T.S. Eliot What is Humility? Humility is highly esteemed across cultures…
The Lost Art of Manners: A Reflection on Modern Etiquette
It's essential to remember that everyone deserves respect and that all individuals are created equal, regardless of their achievements...We live in a world where our actions affect others, so we should treat each…
How You Change the Game at Work: It’s All About People
Remember, what you do at work isn't just about hitting KPIs or closing deals. It's about building a team that's all in it together, where everyone feels like they're part of something bigger.…
The Only Way to Combat Darkness is to Bring Light
It's a challenging journey, but one that's necessary. In a world rife with increasing darkness, it is our duty to be the bearers of light. Every small act, every kind word, and every…
Recommended Reading
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers
This book is a field manual. Not theory. Not fluff. It shows you how leaders use language to move people—to act, to believe, to follow. And if you lead anything—a company, team, or…
Be The Best Part of Their Day
Introduction—Be the Best Part of Their Day Communication matters. Every leader leaves a footprint after every interaction. The only real question is: did you lift people up—or wear them down? In Be the Best…
Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence
Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence How Extraordinary Leaders Build Relationships, Shape Culture and Drive Breakthrough Results(2nd Edition) Leadership Isn’t Just About Action—It’s About the Words That Shape It We’ve all seen…
Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask
In short, this book is a powerful reminder that leadership isn’t about knowing it all. It’s about being bold enough to ask, humble enough to listen, and wise enough to act on what…
How To Be A Leader: An Ancient Guide To Wise Leadership
How to Be a Leader: An Ancient Guide to Wise Leadership Lead with wisdom, not just willpower.What if the clearest playbook for today’s toughest leadership problems was written two millennia ago? How to…
Coaching A to Z: The Extraordinary Use of Ordinary Words
Precision with kindness. The book organizes coaching into an A–Z of ordinary words—things you already say—then shows how to use them with intention. You’ll ask shorter questions, remove judgment from your phrasing, and…
Getting To “Yes And” – The Art of Business Improv
Getting to Yes, And How improv builds better teams, faster decisions, and real momentum.Inspired by Bob Kulhan’s book Getting to “Yes And”: The Art of Business Improv (Stanford Business Books, 2017). Most teams…
Contagious: Why Things Catch On
Contagious: Why Things Catch On There’s a simple promise at the heart of this book: ideas don’t spread by accident. They spread because they’re built to. Jonah Berger doesn’t deal in theory for…
Jack: Straight From the Gut
Introduction Straight from the Gut is Jack Welch’s candid and deeply personal account of his journey from a young engineer to one of the most successful CEOs in business history. In this autobiography,…
Conversational Capacity
Conversational Capacity There’s a reason this book keeps showing up in serious leadership circles. It addresses a problem most leaders feel but can’t quite name. Conversations break down. Not because people lack intelligence—but…
Never Split The Difference
Most people negotiate as if the goal is compromise. Meet in the middle. Be reasonable. Split the difference. Voss says that this is often lazy thinking. Sometimes, landing in the middle can be…
Fierce Conversations
Fierce Conversations is built on a simple, uncomfortable truth: the conversation you’re avoiding is often the one that will change everything. Susan Scott doesn’t frame leadership as strategy or vision alone—she frames it…
Leadership: Essential Writings By Our Greatest Thinkers
For leaders who want more than surface-level guidance, this anthology provokes reflection: What does it mean to lead in the face of tension, complexity, and contradiction? How do values shape action in uncertainty?…
On Leadership and Business
On Leadership and Business doesn’t chase theory. It doesn’t try to impress. It goes straight at the real work—what leaders do, what they avoid, and what it costs them over time. This is…
Reflections On Life and Leading
Reflections on Life and Leading This book reads like a distillation of years spent in rooms where decisions mattered—where leaders had to look at themselves honestly and then go do something about it.…
Martin Luther King, Jr. on Leadership
King did not lead in comfortable conditions. He led when it was dangerous. Criticism. Threats. Opposition—constant. And still, he moved forward. That’s courage.
Lincoln on Leadership
I’ve worked with leaders who want better results but avoid the hard choices that produce them. Lincoln didn’t have that luxury. He made decisions knowing they would be criticized, misunderstood, and resisted. And…
Inspirational Leadership: Timeless Lessons for Leaders from Shakespeare’s Henry V
At its core, this book argues that inspirational leadership is not theater. It is character under pressure. Purpose made visible. Words backed by action. Self-mastery: strong enough to steady others. A leader who…
Learning Leadership
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have spent decades studying leaders across industries. Their conclusion is simple and grounded: Leadership is not a gift. It’s a set of behaviors. That changes the conversation. It…
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence changed the way people talk about success. Before this book, many leaders still acted as if intelligence meant raw brainpower, technical skill, and credentials. Goleman made a…
Creating We
“WE-thinking” changes the game. It asks leaders to build conditions where people feel safe enough to contribute, challenge, listen, and create together. The leader’s job is not to win every conversation. The leader’s…
The Lost Art of Great Speech
Most people speak to get through something—a meeting, a pitch, a conversation. The best speakers do the opposite. They speak to move something. An idea. A decision. A person. That’s the difference.
Communication Catalyst
At its core, Communication Catalysts is about closing the gap between what leaders say and what actually happens...The authors argue that communication is not an event—it’s a system. A set of behaviors, habits,…
Influence Without Authority
This is a practical book for a real problem: how do you lead when you don’t control? No title. No formal power. Just responsibility and expectations. Most leaders run into this wall quickly.…
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion You don’t read Influence the same way twice. The first time, it feels like a set of clever tricks—why people say yes and how decisions get nudged. The…
Beneath the Armor
Ole Carlson is pushing one core idea: the real work of leadership happens beneath the surface—beneath the title, beneath the confidence, beneath the “armor” you wear to get through the day.
A More Beautiful Question – The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough ideas
We rush to answers because answers feel productive. Questions feel like delay...But the best thinkers—Einstein, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk—sat with the problem longer than everyone else. They refined the question before chasing solutions.
Reading Excerpts
On Leadership and Business Book Excerpts Sections 3-5 by Ed Robinson
I believe that business and nonprofit leaders need to think differently about what constitutes success. Besides the quality of their people, what differentiates most high-performing companies is their vision, focus, and discipline. Culturally,…
On Leadership and Business Book Excerpts Sections 1-2 by Ed Robinson
The leadership journey requires you to cogitate constantly on the role you and others should be playing. As you achieve some level of success, your business may challenge your capabilities to lead it.…
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
When making a decision, we will less frequently enjoy the luxury of fully considered analysis of the total situation but will revert increasingly to focus on a single, usually reliable feature of it……
Reading Summaries
Be The Best Part of Their Day
Introduction: Why communication matters on the shop floor (and in the boardroom) Most teams don’t stall out because of skill gaps; they stall because people feel unseen, uncertain, or uninspired. When communication frays,…
Glad We Met
Introduction: The Power of Effective 1:1s Using Simple Conversations So much of leadership is wrapped up in big things—budgets, strategies, growth plans, new technology. Yet what often separates great leaders from average ones…
On Leadership and Business: Parts 3, 4, and 5
By embracing the principles outlined in these sections, leaders can inspire their teams, drive sustainable success, and create a lasting positive impact within their organizations. The path to success involves not just strategic…
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