“Leadership is about stewardship.” That’s how Chris Bachinski, president of GHY International, describes his mindset a year ago going into his new role as the first non-family member to lead the 100-plus-year-old company. Charged with preserving GHY’s legacy while building a strong, resilient future, Chris clearly feels a deep, personal responsibility for safeguarding and growing
There I was in work meeting, talking too much and not being clear. My colleague had said something. I disagreed in a way that antagonized him. He got tense and defensive. My response wasn’t gracious. We felt locked in battle, over-talking, and not listening. In retrospect, it was obvious to me: I was tired and
In 2004, Carolyn Smallwood was recruited to facilitate a turnaround of Minneapolis-based nonprofit Way to Grow. As the CEO, she assumed fiscal and organizational responsibility to deliver on their very challenging mission: ensuring that children within the most isolated families are born healthy, stay healthy, and are prepared for school. How has she faced that
Once upon a time…in a galaxy far, far away…the best stories begin somewhere, in a time and a place. That time and place present tension. The story explains how the tension gets resolved. But the events of the story are much less compelling than the inner change that people experience as the story resolves. Good
In the US during the 1960s, soldiers returned from war with government financial support to complete their schooling. The problem, though, was that schools weren’t prepared for it. Control Data Corporation and the University of Illinois began researching how technology could solve the problem by extending the capacity and reach of learning. Those researchers could
The Science Museum of Minnesota impacts over a million people from around the world every year through trips to the museum, school visits, traveling exhibitions and Omnitheater films. It exists, in its own words, to “turn on the science: Inspire learning. Inform policy. Improve lives.” Spearheading that charge is its humble leader, Alison Brown, the
You can treat everyone well. But you can’t invest equal time in every relationship. The reality is that time and energy are limited. And that can lead you to have surface relationships with everyone. But your limits can also become the impetus for you to get really clear about who and what you’ll focus on.
What makes a humble leader? It’s the question I’ve been exploring recently to help us get a better understanding of the essential qualities and impact of a humble, self-effacing leader. It becomes clearer every day that the world could benefit from more of these kinds of leaders, and the next leader in the series certainly
I’ll never forget feeling like an utter failure in my second real job. Since I had excelled in technology and process in my first real job, I thought this new role — which involved managing the development of a customer-facing website — would play to my strengths. But the job turned out to be much
Two months ago, I started a daily exercise of focusing on one word in silence each morning. When I wrote about this ritual, some friends asked me what the word was, but I’ve been reluctant to reveal it because it’s often misunderstood and not celebrated in society. The word is meek. The Actual Meaning of
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE