News Blog

Of all the risks to ethical behavior – and we need only read the headlines to see how greed, power, and fame can tempt – one catalyst to unethical behavior you may not have thought of is not getting enough sleep.

This time of year many of us resolve to do things differently – add or eliminate habits. There’s the appeal of a clean slate. But then we may lose track of that commitment. Or get discouraged. Why? Maybe it didn’t matter enough. Or wasn’t pleasant. Or maybe the...

Relentless effort was one of George Washington’s outstanding leadership qualities; the other was emotional control or what we now call emotional self-regulation, an element of emotional intelligence. Simply put, it is the ability to not lash out or act out despite...

Doris Kearns Goodwin speaks about Lincoln and other presidential leaders, and her book Team of Rivals.

When it comes to leaders, their own striving for perfection can interfere with learning, authenticity and transparency.

Linus Torvolds who founded Linux 25 years ago, admits to being a jerk of a leader.

When professionals demonstrate excellence in their chosen field, they are often promoted to leadership, leaving behind their first love.

Confidence is born of competence, and like every strength, it can be overdone, given the context. How can confidence be overdone?

What does it take to stand out as an employer, to attract and retain top talent

All the data is in, now it’s time to make the decision. Well all the data that is available is in.  In reality, leaders need to make decisions without all the data, because it’s just not possible to acquire and analyze it all. Sometimes, when all the data is in, it’s...

What is nourishing leadership, and why does it matter? Sometimes, it is useful to explore what is universal about leadership, and what I like about the label “nourishing leadership” is that it is not commonly used.

Performing well, meeting targets, providing expertise and being productive – what more could be needed to succeed as a leader?
A surprise for many leaders when they reach a certain level is that they also need to manage …

Leaders are often annoyed that their years of authority and expertise aren’t enough to have a well-thought-out recommendation accepted or decision implemented by their management. They may resent that they need to express their recommendations in terms that are...

Money for Lunch - Bert Martinez, Host Bert: Welcome. You know I was amazed at this great conversation I had a while back with an individual and we were talking about problems, challenges, set backs, whatever you want to call it. Surprises that we didn’t want. Whatever...

At the age of 16, Albert Einstein famously envisioned running alongside a beam of light, which resulted in his Special Theory of Relativity: time slows down. “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle,” he said, “requires...

The success factors to a corporate retreat are: a clear purpose, quality dialogue, individual impact, and concrete follow-up. 1. Purpose: Compelling Change A clear purpose becomes the call to action for participants. Leaders hold a retreat when there is a compelling...

Mastering the Seven Dragons of Leadership by Janet Britcher Being a leader is being on an adventure, whether you’re an entrepreneur or a leader in someone else’s organization. In enduring stories of old, the adventurer had to face many challenges, or dragons, to keep...

When you’re a leader, it’s good to be laser-focused. Right? Not necessarily. In today’s information-overloaded world, the scale can often tip too far toward being overfocused. And this can get in the way of problem solving and innovation. When you’re overfocused, your...

Bob Brooks of the Prudent Money Radio Show interviewed Janet Britcher of Transformation Management, about her book "Zoom Leadership: Change your Focus, Change your Insights." They discussed attention and focus, and their role in helping managers to make decisions and...

Use the word “accountability,” and employees run for cover, expecting perhaps public humiliation or termination. Even managers shy away from the word and struggle with what it means. Still, they ask for accountability training, because they know it’s the only way to...

Listen as Janet Britcher of Transformation Management discusses her book; Zoom Leadership: Change Your Focus, Change Your Insights; with Kevin Short of the Think Outrageous radio show, including Janet’s four lenses and their relation to Myers-Briggs personality types.

This article first appeared in Forbes online 02-26-18.     A manager I once coached, who we'll call Walter, was delighted when he was promoted to direct the technology team at his biotech company. He had been working with this group for years and was familiar with...

Janet Britcher was interviewed on Cultural Brilliance Radio with Claudette Rowley, about her book, Zoom Leadership: Change Your Focus, Change Your Insights. This is part 4, in which Janet talks about the feel and witness lens of her Zoom Leadership coaching model.

This article first appeared in Forbes online 01-22-18. “Stay positive” is a popular mantra. After all, what could be wrong with positive thinking? A few things, actually — depending on the level of control you have over a given situation. Take Anna, a software...

Leaders are rightly rewarded for a fixed focus: setting a goal, reaching the goal, forecasting an outcome, staying on budget. Publicly held companies are particularly rewarded for meeting quarterly forecasts. Stock prices are rewarded or penalized based on the accuracy of the forecast. Even a large increase in profits can send a stock tumbling if it is not as large as the forecast.

Risk is relative. Do you love to win, or hate to lose? Behavioral economics offers us some insights.  Our emotional reaction to losing is more negative than our positive reaction to winning according to authors Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Let’s apply that to leadership development.

Sarah was a high level senior vice president, preparing for her promotion. She knew that in order to move up, she needed to be ready to replace herself. Leonard was her top choice. He had worked for her for several years; he was ambitious and hard working. He was...

Katherine was in an assistant leader role, with a challenging boss. She had worked at the company for many years and Albert had been her boss for the last six. There were days when she knew she made a valuable contribution, but other days she was haunted by a sense of...

Eric was ready to be promoted out of client services to be COO. He was a good leader with a solid track record, and credibility with the CEO. He was eager for the move yet wanted to make sure he could build credibility with his new team. Many of them had been his...

Every leader I have worked with inevitably has a moment of doubt, what’s called an “imposter syndrome.” The feeling that there must have been some mistake when being hired or promoted. In the 2010 movie The King’s Speech, after it’s clear that the main character...

Have you ever seen this play out in your office? Douglas (Victim) complains to Jennifer that he has been treated unfairly, is a Victim. Jennifer (rescuer) feels badly for him, tries to help out, and makes suggestions. Douglas doesn’t follow Jennifer’s advice, so she...

Toxic employees received some attention lately in the Harvard Business Review report by Dylan Minor. There were some unsurprising conclusions: toxic employees are expensive. But also some curious, paradoxical results in their report: toxic employees can seem to be...