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The first step in finding your personal purpose for work and life is to look back over the experiences of your life thus far. If we rush forward, without time for reflection on what we have learned so far, we miss important lessons. “Life is a succession of lessons which must
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you the importance of knowing why you work and how you can put into words your purpose of leadership. While we’ve tried to make the process simple, knowing where to begin can often be difficult. Over the next eight weeks, I’d like
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you the importance of knowing why you work and how you can put into words your purpose of leadership. While we’ve tried to make the process simple, knowing where to begin can often be difficult. Over the next eight weeks, I’d like
Last week I shared with you the importance of knowing why you work and how you can put into words your purpose of leadership. While we’ve tried to make the process simple, knowing where to begin can often be difficult. Over the next eight weeks, I’d like to share with
Recently, I had the opportunity of attending at the Atlanta Renaissance Dinner at the High Museum featuring wine, music, art, terrific speakers, and over 100 works of art by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The purpose of the dinner was to advance diverse leaders in top leadership across all sectors
In this last blog post discussing the themes of Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership by James W. Sipe and Don M. Frick, we are talking about Moral Authority. This topic begs a definition if we are to have a meaningful conversation. My personal favorite is this definition of moral authority:
Systems thinking has been in the leadership conversation for years, probably most notably associated with The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge. But, I had not thought of it as a trait of servant leaders until I came across The Systems Pyramid in Seven Pillars Of Servant Leadership by James W.
In American culture, we admire and celebrate individual contributors. We hold up CEOs, celebrities, entrepreneurs, community leaders who have accomplished great things, and we attach those great things to a person, more often than a team. Even in our sporting events, we tend to celebrate the big name player, over the
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of hearing Ken Blanchard, author of many books including the One-Minute Manager, and Colleen Barrett, President Emeritus of Southwest Airlines. The two of them sat on the conference stage in two big comfortable living room chairs and talked to the audience about their
How many places have you worked where they saiud: “we put our people first?” And how many places was it a true statement? Putting people first is an essential pillar of servant leadership based on the writings of Sipe & Frick in the Seven Pillars Of Servant Leadership. But the
Be a person of character is an important trait. There is an initiative being taught in school systems called Character Counts. The curriculum teaches six essential values to being a person with character: responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Those are all traits I would like my children to
For the next several weeks I will be blogging about the essential traits of servant leaders. The framework for the conversation comes from a book called Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership by James W. Sipe and Don M. Frick. For those of you who think the term servant leader is
Here is a question I love to answer. Does servant leadership deliver superior financial performance results? The answer – unequivocally yes. The reason I love this question is that I meet skeptic after skeptic that cannot follow this logic. It is not plausible that you could serve the people you lead and
Visiting restaurants is where I learn the most important leadership lessons. Better than conferences, books, speeches, and blogs. Restaurant leaders don’t complicate leadership. They do leadership. Meet Min Cho, leader of the Popeyes restaurant on Osan Air Force Base in Korea. Min Cho is no ordinary leader. Last year she
Feedback is truly a gift. Last night my daughter said to me, “just what is the point of your blog exactly, Mom?” In case you have the same question, I offer this answer. I want to challenge you to re-think your approach to leadership. Or perhaps, come to a point
I’m intrigued by companies with strong core purpose and principles. Once such company is the advertising agency, GSD&M in Austin, Texas. This agency was founded in 1971 by four graduates of University of Texas at Austin: Steve Gurasich, Roy Spence, Judy Trabulsi, and Tim McClure. While the founders recently retired, this agency remains
It is a rare occasion that a highly visible Fortune 500 CEO puts their personal values out for all to see. One such individual is Bob McDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble. If you go to the P&G website, and search for his biography, you will also find a section
Several of you have asked me what traits I look for that I believe are essential to servant leadership. One good book on servant leadership, Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership, by James Sipe, says there are seven core attributes of a servant leader and 21 behaviors to look for. This
One day I was in a Popeyes restaurant observing a busy lunch hour in a high volume restaurant. Despite the flood of urgent, hungry guests, the crew in this restaurant was getting the food out, on time and with a smile. It was like watching an orchestra perform a great
In April, my husband and I visited Napa Valley, California for the first time and as you would expect, we toured the vineyards and wineries of this region. The first thing you notice in Napa Valley is the beauty of the area – rolling hills covered with grape trellises, classic
The best CEO I worked for in my career was at RJR Nabisco; his name, Lou Gerstner. He was exceptionally smart and exceptionally principled. I watched his leadership closely and found many lessons that would guide my career over the years. So when he was selected to be CEO of
Apparently our human minds can only remember three or four things at once. Psychologists at the University of Missouri published a paper in 2008 entitled “An assessment of fixed-capacity models of visual working memory.”* Up until this study, most researchers thought we could remember seven things at once – like the
It is Friday night and I am headed to LaGuardia airport in New York City– in the borough of Queens. The traffic is heavy. It is raining, and chances are good flights will be delayed. If you have ever traveled through a major airport on a Friday night, you know
One of my favorite childhood movies was The Sound of Music. I think it may have been the catalyst for my lifelong love of music. Maybe I was a romantic at the age of 9, but I can’t think of a more beautiful scene in a movie than where Julie Andrews
For over 18 years, I’ve been in a leadership position with small business owners, the franchisees who invest in and run restaurants. Let me share with just five things that are annoying about a small business owner: They have a lot of emotion and relatively few facts. They always want
When I joined Popeyes in 2007, my first day was the international franchising conference in Orlando, Florida. As you would expect, on my first day I was brimming with excitement and anticipation about this challenging new leadership opportunity. This would be my first chance to meet the Popeyes franchise owners
I’ve only been a waitress once, for one day. I was sixteen years old and had just passed my driver’s test on the second try. Excited to have the independence my age deserved, I realized I would need money for gas. It was time to get a job. Applications submitted.
Last night I enjoyed a dinner conversation with a Popeyes leader who oversees more than a dozen restaurants. In our chat, we were reflecting on how grateful we both were for the momentum in our business – and how blessed we felt to be a part of this company. I was
My father was my encourager in life. If I wanted to try something new, he was all for it. He was my greatest fan and his encouragement made me feel special. I only have one memory of my father saying a discouraging thing – and that was at my tumbling
Looking back over the years, it is so easy to see why you were my favorite boss. But at the time, I didn’t have enough life experience to know just how special you were. Please accept this letter as my way of honoring you for the positive impact you made
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