Imagine that it’s Monday morning and you’re just getting started with your day when your boss emails you and says, “Come by my office before you go to lunch.” Later that day, your child’s teacher catches you as you pick her up and asks you to schedule an after-school conference as soon as possible. Then you check your phone and see this text from your spouse, “We need to talk. Tonight.” Now what? Sounds like some difficult conversations may be on your schedule. Or what about

Depending on how much cable news you consume, you may get the idea that kindness is in short supply. My personal experience proves just the opposite. I encounter people who express kindness every day. Yes, there are also a few curmudgeons and even the kind ones have their prickly moments, but overall kindness seems to be the rule. I hope that's your experience too. What about when it comes to leadership? Can you be kind and lead well? There is abundant evidence that kindness

"Generosity is one of the most important ways to set an example as a leader in any organization." I think about creativity a lot but I only recently connected it to generosity. Creativity depends on ideas and seldom does anyone have great ideas without input from others. Before you object too strenuously and remind me of some idiosyncratic genius, keep in mind that each of these people built on the work of someone else, even if they produced art or ideas that seemed novel.

"If you're scared, if you're nervous, if you think you're a fraud, you won't be generous." I recently read an interview about leadership, confidence and generosity. I don't know that I've ever used those three words in the same sentence before. I will from now on though. In the interview, Susan Credle, chief creative officer with global advertising firm FCB, described her "first day" speech with a new company. On that first day she said: "You are not competing with each o

Out of Our Minds, by Ken Robinson should be your new best source when you think about creativity. I've recommended it before but just in case you haven't read it yet, here are his three roles and nine principles for creative leaders - along with a few of my own questions, in italics. The first role of the creative leader is to facilitate the creative abilities of every member of the organization. They do this first by recognizing that everyone has creative potential. Ask yo