Ego-driven leaders tend to make up stories when facing challenges in order to avoid taking personal responsibilities. When you encounter an upsetting situation, your ego may cause you to make guesses and judgements about others’ intentions and you start telling yourself a story. In the absence of honest self-reflection, these stories are a lazy way...Read More

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a must for high-performing leaders during regular times, but it is especially important during crises. When times are uncertain and decisions are especially complex, leaders need to tune in to their own emotions in order to better understand and manage them. They also need to be aware of others’ emotions to...Read More

How do you give feedback to someone on your team who is not self-aware?  So often, our feedback is judgmental, too general, and over-generalized. It looks something like this:   “Yesterday at our meeting, you acted like a jerk. Why do you have to keep interrupting people? We are really tired of you!”  This approach is...Read More

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a must for high-performing leaders during regular times, but it is especially important during crises. When times are uncertain and decisions are especially complex, leaders need to tune in to their own emotions in order to better understand and manage them. They also need to be aware of others’ emotions to...Read More

A leader’s brand is how others see — and what they say — about him or her (often when the leader is not around). Ever since Tom Peters introduced the concept in a famous late-’90s article in Fast Company, leaders have worked on building their brands from scratch. They have also attempted to reinvent their personal...Read More

I was recently talking to a young healthcare executive when the conversation led to Executive Presence (EP). Nicole (not her real name), a petite minority woman explained how throughout her young career, she has been advised by professors, mentors and bosses to “improve my Executive Presence.” She has been repeatedly told to “look and act...Read More

Despite the visible increase in narcissism and rudeness in society and politics, humility & kindness are making a surprise come-back in business and leadership. Best-selling author Patrick Lencioni argues that the best team members don’t have big egos or concerns about status- they seek to point out the contributions of others, and they focus on collective, not...Read More

Despite the rise of rudeness and incivility in politics and in society in general, compassion is making a strong comeback in business and leadership. What does it mean to be compassionate? And if you dedicated one full day to acts of compassion, what would you do differently? To help my graduate students in Healthcare Administration at...Read More

Last week, I had the great fortune of speaking to a select group of anesthesiologists and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) at the North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA). These physicians and CRNAs are service excellence champions that had stepped up and volunteered to help their organizations improve service and satisfaction for its surgical patients....Read More