The Nurturing Leader
For the past 40 days, my family has taken care of 3 crabs. Managing Eco-Earth and sand habitats, supporting fresh- and saltwater environments, and monitoring eating habits takes research, time and even expense. (We even try to give our crabs a little ocean-spray “tide” in the evenings.) As the first pets we’ve had in years, these critters have reminded us what it means to nurture. Nurturing just might be one of the most undervalued concepts in leadership. And that could be a problem, because nurturing is a critical component to the DNA of servant leadership.
Recruiting Emotional Change Agents: President Obama’s Jobs Plan
On Friday, September 9, 2011, my 12-year-old son and I attended President Barack Obama’s speech at my alma mater, University of Richmond in Virginia. He discussed his Jobs Plan, as a follow-up to his similar pitch to both houses of Congress the previous night. President Obama demonstrated a change management technique I call acquiring “emotional change agents,” individuals who will respond to an emotional appeal and voluntarily become ambassadors for change.
Read more: Recruiting Emotional Change Agents: President Obama’s Jobs Plan
Change Management for Mommies
Sometimes change tastes just as bad for the change leader. This is a true personal flashback from May 2010.
Change management has meddled in my family life. That brings us to our current change crisis, one we change managers call “Desire.” After one is aware of a need to shift behavior, he or she needs to Desire the new end result, providing them the necessary impetus to change.
Looking Gift Horses in the Mouth: Employee Goodwill or a Trojan Horse?
Consider this a cautionary tale for savvy leaders and human resources executives considering incentives.
Once, I received a significant gift from the Fortune 200 company where I worked, to celebrate a key milestone in my performance. So far, so great! 
They sent me a celebratory letter, in a leatherette box, with a link to a website, where I was supposed to enter a code to receive a sizeable gift certificate. So far, so good… 
But the website didn’t exist. So far, so…what??! 
Read more: Looking Gift Horses in the Mouth: Employee Goodwill or a Trojan Horse?
The Missing Link: Process Management for Small Biz
“A Guide to Process Management: Small Biz Edition,” was the topic of Karen Smith-Will’s presentation to the Richmond, Virginia, chapter of SCORE on September 15, 2011. For more details, please see this press release. Thank you to SCORE Counselor Fred Esposito for the invitation to work with an outstanding group of retired executives helping small business owners. If you are starting a small business, consider contacting SCORE today for complimentary business coaching (see link below).
Other resources:
Visit http://www.richmondscore.org/
Keywords: process management, consulting, nonprofit, servant leadership, change management, stewardship, six sigma, lean, agile