Reflections on Leadership

To be more productive in your life, start organizing your major activities into five areas. Prepare. Perform. Review. Rejuvenate. Repeat. Let your current priority decide which phase to schedule first. Subscribe to the Reflections on Leadership Newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/reflections-on-leadership-6882027877588717568/ *** At Karl Bimshas Consulting, our vision is t...

Has anyone ever asked you want kind of leader you want to be? What are your strengths? How do you most effectively influence people? What does it look like in your ideal world? Whom are you compelled to serve? Perspectives are unique and individualized gifts; you're supposed to unwrap them and use them. Subscribe to the Reflections on Leadership Newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/new...

Your actions and decisions should always move you closer to excellent leadership and as far away from poor leadership as you are capable of traveling. *** Read the Reflections on Leadership Newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-leader-think-karl-bimshas  *** At Karl Bimshas Consulting, our vision is to create environments where great leaders outnumber lousy leaders, and b...

Many people make a New Year’s Resolution then abandon it within the first week. Maybe you’re crossing your fingers and hoping that this year will be the best one ever. You’re determined to lose weight, get organized, spend less and save more, enjoy life to the fullest, stay fit and healthy, learn something exciting, quit smoking, help others, fall in love, and have more family time. Those are the...

Before you begin your new year, note the lessons you learned in this one. Spend a few moments conducting an After Action Review for the year. Investing the time in an After Action Review for the year, or any valuable project, helps you learn faster and improves your performance. Use it for any area of your life, including your personal and professional leadership. Doing so will help you manage bet...

Check your vision … and your mission, and values. It is wise to review your personal and professional vision, mission, and values from time to time. Vision is an ideal state in the distance, just out of reach. If you haven’t revisited your vision in a long time, you may have surpassed it, and it might now be behind you. Or you may have drifted way off course. Your mission can change fairly regular...

Karl Bimshas briefly describes thirteen types of leadership. *** At Karl Bimshas Consulting, our vision is to create environments where great leaders outnumber lousy leaders, and better leadership is the norm, not the exception. Your support of the Reflections on Leadership podcast helps move us even closer to that vision. Thank you! *** About Reflections on Leadership: Leadership advisor, writer,...

Audio from the on-demand video, " How Do You Measure Leadership Success?" where Leadership Advisor, Karl Bimshas shares 18 metrics to consider when measuring leadership performance. Watch Video Here: https://www.bimshasconsulting.com/how-do-you-measure-leadership-success/ At Karl Bimshas Consulting, our vision is to create environments where great leaders outnumber lousy leaders, and better leader...

Swagger and bluster are but a thin camouflage for incompetence, and it would be a wholesome thing for these leaders to be able to realize the scorn and disgust they are implanting in the hearts of their team. An excerpt from “Welcome to Leadership” Order Karl’s Latest Book, “Welcome to Leadership”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JFG3L1X *** At Karl Bimshas Consulting, our vision is to create environ...

In this episode, I’m delighted to speak with JC Bernstein, Leadership Realist, Writer, and Consultant. We chat about how leaders can better provide what their direct reports want and need, and how to do so without making it a big project. You do not want to miss JC explaining her SPARK method, which can also be found in her forthcoming book, “From Spark to Fire : How Successful Managers Build Moti...

Human nature demands that before people can put their best efforts into work, they must know the objective. Purpose is the guiding motive in life, and we are made so that we seek the purpose in all our efforts. Upon finding it and believing in it, we naturally give it our best endeavors. In starting any new work, undertaking, or policy, the most efficient thing to do is assemble the whole group of...

In today's episode of Reflections on Leadership, I'm thrilled to speak with Dr. Bob Nelson. His latest book, "Work Made Fun Gets Done; Easy Ways to Boost Energy, Morale, and Results," is one you're going to want to add to your library of leadership resources. "Dr. Bob" works with 80% of Fortune 500 companies, and you're going to want to grab a pen because, in this conversation, you'll pick up a lo...

Author Karl Bimshas answers questions about his latest leadership book. What inspired “Welcome to Leadership?” Who is “Welcome to Leadership” for? What are the central tenets of Welcome to Leadership?” Order “Welcome to Leadership” Here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JFG3L1X?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 *** Contact Karl Bimshas Consulting: https://www.bimshasconsulting.com/contact/ Learn from Karl : h...

No one expects perfection, and it is impracticable to take on qualities that are not natural. You must realize that leadership is developed. Absorb its fundamentals into your system, and study yourself while applying them to your position's problems. Your personality is the one big thing going for you. Learn to appreciate its strong and weak points, its possibilities for doing the right and wrong,...

Having an independent spirit, thumbing your nose to convention, and erecting the middle finger to all those you disagree with or feel offended by has a time and place. And let's be honest, if you're a fan of rugged individualism, it's most of the time and in most places. Collectivism is putting the needs of the greater society (or team) before your own. Candidly, it's not in us to embrace collecti...

In 1920, Lincoln C. Andrews published "Manpower" – a loose field guide created to quickly train many inexperienced men for leadership roles after World War I. The book contained dozens of forthright leadership principles, many of which I believe could serve this century's new and existing leaders equally well, regardless of gender. We again find ourselves shook by a pandemic, threats to democracy,...

Not feeling inspired? Do it anyway. Waiting for inspiration is like waiting for confidence. It comes later after you have proven you’re serious by taking action. So make the call, paint the canvas, dare more today than you dared yesterday. Inspiration is the rare reward you get for doing the basics every single day. Occasionally, a fresh perspective or new idea flitters past, curious and seeking a...

You know the phrase, "sometimes you can't fix stupid," that is often uttered by a supervisor or a mid-level manager? Replace them, and you will see how quickly stupid becomes brilliant. Find the managers who say some members of their team “simply can’t be taught,” are “a lost cause,” or “just don’t want to work,” and you have found your primary cause of dysfunction. Now, you won’t have the appetit...

The kind of leader you aspire to be just walked into the room. * What do they look like? * What are they doing today? * How do they feel? * What do they have to tell you? Give specific answers and review them carefully. From now on, before every decision you make, test to see if your actions move you closer to or farther from that ideal leader. That leader is within you right now. You could ignore...

If you ever feel the need to tell a kid who is pursuing something they appear to love that they will never be good at it, shut up. For every success story you hear about someone who battled all the naysayers of their youth to persevere to greatness, there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands who gave up their dreams, happiness, and identity in order to “fit in” with those who couldn’t be bothe...

By now, you know that your thoughts influence your feelings, and your feelings influence your behaviors, which affect your thoughts. And so it goes, around and around, for you and everyone else. Before you know it, a few decades slip by, and you become the dreaded “set in your ways.” What’s been stopping you from achieving what you want to achieve? It’s not just your thoughts, but you’re making it...

Time is short, and resources are limited; just because you come across something new or get a great idea from a book, video, or a self-proclaimed subject matter expert, doesn’t mean you should adopt it. Small and mid-size company presidents and CEOs do this a lot. They are searching for the secret sauce that will solve their problems. After their offsite meeting, they return to the office with new...

The boss or business owners who fear-monger the potential loss of camaraderie, culture, or efficiency are misinformed, ineffective, and have an unfortunate reliance on ego, control, and habit, instead of strategy. Very few people buy the argument that office culture is superior to working from home or remotely. Is there something to be said about the spontaneous and serendipitous mentoring that oc...

We too often forget the “United” part of our society. We reclaim it by being of service to each other. Imagine if we became quicker to aid and support and slower to judge, mock, or demonize. Begin making this imperfect place a more perfect union. It will not be easy, but your bit of elbow grease will help make things begin to shine. Choose unity over division, democracy over authoritarianism, love...

I frequently get asked if great leaders are born or made. Studies seem to indicate about a third are born with favorable characteristics, and two-thirds are forged by life experiences. If you’re told you were a born leader, you’ll probably act like one. There’s also a strong likelihood you’ll fall into certain traps of entitlement and privilege, which can blind you. If nature and circumstance caus...