What does it take to have good leadership traits? Is it learned or is it something you are born with? Having good leadership traits is essential to being able to lead a team, manage a business or run an organization.
Some of the things that exemplify good leadership traits can be remembered from the use of the acronym E.A.S.E.:

Encourager and charismatic inspirer: keeps those on their team inspired and able to motivate them to succeed.
Awareness of environment and integrity: able to understand their surroundings and can affectively use integrity to effect what type of work environment exist for their team in …read more

Fiction writing is all about characters. Well, I guess it is also about plot, setting, and all that jazz, but let’s face it – a really great starring character can make almost any novel or short story interesting. Check out your own fiction work. Just how round are you characters.
Back to junior high English class for a minute. When a character is “round,” it has substance. It is a believable, real character that causes the reader to care. This is in contrast to a “flat” character, who is a one-note that serves as little more than a stereotype. Of course, …read more

YES, character matters! Think about that phrase – Character Matters!
I have spent a large part of this year responding to issues in and around termination. Many more people get fired today in the natural flow of an organization today than any other time in our history.
For some people, termination has come by their own poor choices. Character Matters!
For some people, a manager has chosen to fire people for no apparent reason, other than because they don’t like an individual. Character Matters!
For some people, they are not clear why they are unemployed. All they know is that they don’t have a …read more

The Pennsylvania Primary is today and Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama are in the hunt for the Democratic Nomination. As I have said in the past, the election process is our opportunity to act as hiring managers and hire the best candidate for the job. I wonder what criteria people use to select the best candidate in PA. What do you think? How do you decide who to vote for? Or using my analogy, who to hire to run this country? The primary in PA is a big deal today. Why? Because, I betcha it will help to clarify who …read more

Stan Toler wrote a handy pocket book called Minute Motivators for Leaders. It is a good, quick easy read for anyone wanting to understand leadership principles. The book if full of quotes, short narratives and inspirational writing. According to Stan Toler “Leadership is about gaining enough knowledge and wisdom to move people and plans from obscurity to excellence.”
Here is a list of some of the principles Stan Toler outlines in his book:

Character – Leaders do the right thing
Affirmation – Leaders make everyone feel valuable.
Communication – Leaders are good communicators.
Insight – Leaders understand people.
Endurance – Leaders accept pain and disappointment in stride.
Movement …read more

If you get to hire the next President of the United States, I believe like a hiring manager, you should be looking for specific skills and abilities from the candidates. Their life experience and vocation should definitely be a major part of your consideration. But there are two other qualities I believe are underrated in the evaluation of our candidates for this extremely important job opportunity. The quest to be the most powerful leader in the free world is the epitome of a competitive job search. Who gets to make the hiring decision? I submit to you, that every U.S. …read more