The Kind Leadership Challenge

Let’s just go ahead and get right down to it: your team at work is not your family, and believing otherwise will lead you down a disastrous path.   It makes sense that people often compare the two because a cohesive family and team both operate in similar ways. However, how many functional families do you actually know? The two differ quite clearly when it comes to their purpose. This makes for co...

You know how there are a few leadership sayings that have become overused almost to the point of cliché? “You can’t pour from an empty cup” is one of those for me. But then something struck me. Is there a difference between an empty cup and a cracked cup, and what are some things we can to heal the latter? ~~~ Resources Mentioned How My Cardiologist taught me about Kind Leadership (Challenge #2) R...

As you're about to hear, I’ve got a lot going on, which my YOLO side always loves, but only up to a certain point. In the past, seasons like this have brought on overwork, or even outright burnout. I plan to use the three core skills of kind leadership to manage my stress over the next couple months, and stay balanced even when things are a little crazy. Keep listening to pick up some tips fo...

I talk a lot about setting and maintaining strong boundaries on this podcast. That’s for a simple reason. Many principled leaders, your host included, suck at boundaries. However, too much of any good thing leads to its own problems. So today we’re going to explore the contradictory concept of empowered vulnerability, and how admitting a weakness from a position of strength is necessary to solve t...

As long time listeners know, the Kind Leadership Challenge isn’t my only podcast. I also co-host Zilch! A Monkees Podcast.  On the surface, Zilch! and the Kind Leadership Challenge are as different as two podcasts can be.  And yet...each podcast has informed how I approach the other, in ways both obvious and subtle. And that was especially true this week, when I saw an interview that hammered home...

When I was on a recent coaching call, my prospective client and I got onto the topic of Psychological Safety. It’s a theory that this person really resonates with, and I find it interesting as well. After we geeked out a bit, they mentioned that many of their colleagues had either never heard of the concept, or didn’t really understand what actions they could take to create a psychologically safe...

Talk about a convenient coincidence! As I was starting to write this final episode of First Principles February, I got a notification from Facebook. The group chat function for the Kind Leadership Challenge community was finally activated! As soon as I got it turned on and invited all 1200 members of our community to start discussing their leadership challenges in real time, it hit me. The third s...

Welcome back to First Principles February!  This week is all about the second skill of kind leadership, managing effectively. As I discussed in episodes 53 and 54, Kind Leadership is ultimately about making decisions that heal, and healing decisions are easiest to make when you are confident in yourself, your values, and in your understanding of the underlying problem. However, generally your orga...

Welcome back to First Principles February! To celebrate the first anniversary of the kind leadership challenge and all the amazing growth we’ve experienced over the past year, I’m releasing a 4 part series on the basics of Kind leadership. In week 2 of this mini-course, we’re focusing on the first of the three core skills of kind leadership, growing humanely. As I discussed last time in Challenge...

Greetings Kind Leaders and welcome to First Principles February! A little over a year ago, on February 1, 2022, I launched the kind leadership challenge podcast. To mark this anniversary month, we’re going back to the first principles of Kind Leadership in a four part mini-course that will teach you how you can impement the kind leadership framework to build a better world. And we're kicking...

So let's say you followed all my advice in episode 51 last week, but still have more to do than you can manage.  Don't worry, I'm not going to blame you or tell you to "hustle harder". I totally believe there are organizational and systemic factors beyond your control that have left too much on your plate. I also believe there are things you can control to prevent those fa...

So, we’re getting into late January. For those of you like me whose work is based on the educational calendar, the spring semester is in full swing. If you’re doing well, you’re still hanging on to the word of the year you picked after listening to episode 47, However, even if your goals and good intentions are still on your mind, they are slowly but surely being crowded out by the dozens of crise...

So, stop me if you’ve ever believed one of these toxic leadership myths: Good Leaders have all the answers. Good Leaders can look at any situation and immediately know what to do. Good Leaders have a clear vision at all times. Good Leaders know what to say in any conversation. And that’s why Good Leaders never, ever ask for help. Yeah, that’s all a load of bull.  If you're ever scared to ask...

One of the things I talk about a lot on the Kind Leadership challenge is the way in which leadership is a team sport.  Creating collaboratively is one of the three core skills of kind leadership, because all of us need people who can help us get out of our own heads and expand our perspectives.  However, there is also such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, and too many perspectives can jus...

So I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger in episode 47, when I discussed my opinions about new year’s resolutions, and how I found it much more productive to instead pick a word of the year. I try to keep that word in mind for making all of my big decisions, and handling whatever opportunities the coming year may throw at me. Last week I shared some of my previous words of the year, but I made you...

Pretty much every year around this time, I sit down with a notebook or Word document and make my goals for the new year. For many years this planning session would yield a long-ish laundry list of personal and professional resolutions, half of which would be abandoned by Valentine’s Day. However, the last few years I’ve taken a different approach to this new year’s ritual, one which actually has h...

I talk a lot about establishing boundaries in your own leadership practice, and how to use them to protect your team as a whole. And everyone listening to this probably agrees that boundaries are a good thing. But HOW do you set them when asserting your boundaries means saying no to a team member, a community member, or even your boss? Well, today I’ll use a passage from the best selling Mafia nov...

I hate to say this, but you probably delegate a lot less than you think you do. Now, I’m sure you regularly find items on your to-do list that can be done by another team member or members, and assign those tasks to them. But after you pass those tasks along, do your really let go? Or do you Hover, or provide unsolicited advice, or take back over because it’s not being done right? Or, and this is...

Greetings Kind Leaders! I hope you’re all hanging in there during this hectic time of the year, when many of us are juggling holidays, family commitments, work commitments, and all the craziness that early December brings. This week’s episode is a little different, as I’m presenting my recent guest appearance on the Common Stacks podcast. Host Heather Teysko is also Director of Engagement at Libra...

Seems like every day I’m seeing more job openings on linkedin and the other boards I follow. Between COVID hiring freezes thawing and a wave of retirements, a lot of us are bringing on new team members right now! I’ve been training new library workers for the better part of 20 years at this point, and it occurred to me that I’ve learned a lot from those experiences, both good and bad. So since a l...

As you listen to this on release week, I will be in a small 1980s suburban home in Tornado Alley, most likely fresh back from a grocery store run and probably debating with my mom about the merits of doing squash casserole or roasted brussels sprouts for the token “healthy” thanksgiving side dish.  As we head toward the end of the year, I think it’s time to take a moment to be thankful for the goo...

Uncertainty is a part of every leader’s life. Kind Leaders try to make effective, humane and collaborative decisions based on what we know about the world around us. However, we inevitably have a partial understanding of the past, a skewed perspective on the present, and no knowledge of the future. Add in the fact that most of us feel a lot of external and internal pressure to do the “right” thing...

As a kind leader, you usually know where you want to go and have a plan on how you want to get there.     However, if you take a look back at the goals you have reached thus far, how many times have you actually followed the plan? Most likely, there were blind spots and challenges you didn’t see coming, where your plan went out the window.    This is similar to our host Sarah Clark’s experience in...

In light of the positive feedback received from episode 37, where we talked about why you need to tell your team members the reason for setting a meeting with them rather than leaving them in suspense, our host Sarah Clark thought to herself, what are some other emotional triggers leaders have? More importantly, how can leaders identify and manage these triggers? Although this list isn’t extensive...

Don’t worry, this is not turning into a podcast about weight loss! However, there is a lot to learn about facing a seemingly impossible task and being successful in completing it. Whether it be losing 93 pounds, or taking on an intimidating initiative.    From knowing what and how to make changes, to researching and learning a new skill, and recruiting the right people to help you reach your goals...