As a self-aware leader, you should assess your strengths and weaknesses in line with how others see you. There is a solid body of empirical research demonstrating that leaders with greater self-awareness make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.

Humility often gets a bad rap because it is associated with weakness. But humble leaders are, in fact, fundamentally confident, decisive, and ambitious.

The idea is stop making New Year's resolutions and started picking One Word for the upcoming year. No resolutions, no goals... just One Word that gives meaning, mission, passion and purpose. One Word that will you help be the best you can.

Remember, as a leader, you're always on stage, the show is always on and your team is watching your every move: What you say and don’t say. What you do and don’t do.

Fast forward to 2020: With a carefully planned succession process, Ajay handed the reins to Michael Miebach, a seasoned Mastercard executive. Ajay's tenure began with the goal of replacing himself.

In August 2012, Best Buy was on the brink of bankruptcy. The newly appointed CEO, Hubert Joly, was under tremendous pressure to prevent disaster and turn the big box store around.

Some experiences are both a mindf&*% AND a massive learning opportunity. I am in the best shape I have been in a long time, I trained well, got all my gear sorted and most of all I was really looking forward to my Everesting challenge last weekend.

True self-knowledge when preparing for my Everesting means, for me, means radical self-acceptance, which is easy to write but can be hard to pull off. Radical acceptance is a psychological concept rooted in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

Getting to know your team members as people helps you to apply the “platinum rule of leadership.” The Golden Rule states that you treat and motivate others like you want to be treated and motivated.

Your shared purpose should be simple and tangible with clear marching orders for all your team members. Leading with your hands off through clarity of shared purpose is in this way leading like a compass, showing true north versus providing a detailed map on how to get there.

What is the most important characteristic you want to teach your children to help them get good grades at school? Hard work? Thoroughness? Self-confidence? No doubt those are all important, but as it turns out, what is even more important to getting good grades is being humble. 

Having served as a NATO and UN peacekeeper in conflict zones recently, these stories hit home for me - even moved me to tears - as they echoed a lot of what I experienced firsthand in my missions.

“Tough on results, tender on people” is simple to say but can be difficult to pull off: Hold your people to the highest standards while building meaningful and trusting relationships with them.

The vulnerability displayed by the leader is then almost always mirrored by the rest of the team. Sharing with vulnerability at the kickoff builds the base for deeper trust and closer connection within the team and makes for a more productive session.  

I was sitting in my boss’s office at HQ during my first week as team Commander in the military peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. The Colonel turned to me and said: “I love you, Urs. You know I do, AND this is not good enough. I know you can do better.”

Like many of you, Linda needed to make the shift from doing it all herself THEN to delegating NOW. Linda’s leadership funeral was a symbolic act of letting go of what was, the THEN leadership, to make room for new possibilities, the NOW leadership.

Why would CEO Mathilde put herself through this nerve-racking experience you might ask? Short answer: Psychological Safety! Performing a musical together as a team is a powerful way to practice THE key element of any high-performance team: psychological safety. Creating and practicing the musical together creates a culture where people can and need to be vulnerable, take risks, make mistakes, fail, try again, fail again and finally improve.

“Open Fire!” I took aim at the target dummy’s head with my handgun, took a shot, took aim and was just about to pull the trigger again when the instructor yelled “Cease Fire, cease fire!” I immediately dropped the gun and glanced sideways at my teammates lined up next to me. The ten of us stood three feet apart.

One of the most powerful ways to build a culture that is tough on results and tender on people is to turn our team into a leadership factory: Making it your explicit goal to produce the next generation of leaders for your organization.

Laura hung up the phone as Paul entered her office. He closed the door slowly and deliberately. He sat down and asked Laura “Have you heard about the payroll spreadsheet?” Laura had no idea what Paul was talking about and looked at him puzzled. “HR accidentally sent the employee payroll to everyone in the company!” Laura’s eyes widened. She gasped “No!?” “Yes”.