5 Things Successful Leaders Know That Make Us Want to Follow Them

By Sheila Madden The amazing Dr. Maya Angelou understood the profound difference between management (what is done) and leadership (how things are done). She expressed it with her unique heart-full clarity when she said: “People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them […]

The Single Greatest Weakness in the Business World

I coach students in a variety of graduate degree programs at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Many have spent anywhere from a couple of years to a couple of decades in the workforce, so we use a well-regarded “360” assessment, in which students ask their peers, bosses, and subordinates to rate them on 38 different leadership, managerial, and interpersonal competencies. The assessment has been widely used for years: over 4.5 million people have taken it.

In North America, the lowest scoring of the 38 competencies is…

Are You Grateful for Change?

November is my gratitude month. I set aside time for a daily mindset of gratefulness in order to prepare for the festive chaos that December brings. It’s easy for me to generate a long list of things to be grateful for, but…

A Time For Gratitude

For those of you who grew up in American households, you likely engaged in the yearly ritual of Thanksgiving. This generally entails several days of shopping, cooking, visiting, stuffing yourself beyond capacity and, quite possibly, watching football. Oh, and there’s often a ritual where family and friends go around the table and name what they’re thankful for. In my experience…

Defining Your Leadership Brand

When we think of a brand we typically visualize a name, slogan, or symbol that distinguishes an organization or product from its competition. As individuals, we have a personal brand – that unique differentiator that defines our identity. Visualize a leader…

Mark Robertson

Why Mood, or Attitude, is critical to our Learning Experience

There are so many theories and books out there about learning – individual learning styles, leadership development, creating learning environments, and so on. I could add to this list, but I’d rather ask you to look at learning from a (perhaps) new perspective – an ontological one.

The ontological approach…

Lesley Bartley, MBA 2005

What Can Seasoned Leaders Gain from the Owen Alumni Leadership Development Program?

So you’ve made it to the proverbial corner office, you have a team of people reporting to you, and you make the “big” decisions these days. You’ve earned your way to the top and garnered a number of wonderful experiences and perhaps some pretty hard lessons along the way. You’ve hit your stride in your career, and you are kicking butt and taking names, right?  How can you, as a seasoned leader, possibly need more leadership development?