Posts Tagged change management
Leadership Communications Trick: RIGHT vs. RIGHT
Posted by Dana Theus in eCoaching on March 21, 2012
Every time I do a leadership training seminar at least one person in the room always has the same light bulb go off when I introduce the RIGHT vs. RIGHT concept, described in Chris McGoff’s The PRIMES. You can see it in their eyes when they are able to perceive an alternative to making every conversation conclude with a winner and loser. They smile and you can almost tell that a weight just lifted off their shoulders because they now understand how to access more power through their leadership style. Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking the Pattern of Management
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, Innovation on February 22, 2012
Gary Hamel is awesome. I remember doing strategic planning in the 90’s and reading Hamel’s guru stuff. Here he is 20 years later still blowing our minds and giving us new change management insights to play with.
Change Leadership: Maximizing your ROL (Return on Luck)
Posted by Dana Theus in Change Management, Innovation on February 8, 2012

Sure, sometimes you’re the lucky recipient of spontaneous innovation, but according to business gurus, consistently good innovators actually have strategies for leveraging luck (the good and the bad) when it trips across their paths.
In “Great by Choice” Jim Collins and Morten Hansen have unearthed a fabulous idea they’re calling Return on Luck, and we all have something to learn from this concept. Read the rest of this entry »
Activating The Woman Effect
Posted by Dana Theus in InPower Leadership, Reclaimed!, Women In Leadership on February 1, 2012
Follow The Woman Effect online - www.TheWomanEffect.com.
This last year blogging here on Reclaiming Leadership has been fun and fascinating. Along the way I found myself speaking to and with wonderful, powerful women. And I’ve also been having fun blogging on women’s web sites, like Blogher, The Glass Hammer, Success in the City and Owning Pink. But I wanted to have a place of my own to speak to women about the trends I see from reading the leadership research that many women – heads down in their career – don’t get a chance to see. So I’m starting a new leadership and professional development blog and website for powerful, high-achieving women.
Here’s my opening play: The Woman Effect (1:48 min video).

Thanks for all of you who have friended, followed, commented, discussed and debated with me over the last year. I’ve never had so much professional fun in my life and it’s only getting better!
The Perils of “Easy” Consensus: Leaders, Do Your Job
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, The PRIMES on January 4, 2012
Throughout my career I’ve had experiences with government, nonprofit and corporate cultures, and I’ve noticed a leadership pattern in all three that any leader can learn from.
Consensus means different things to different people. Be brave. Do Your Job.
Don’t take the ”easy” path.
The word consensus is based on the Latin word “consent,” which according to Dictionary.com means “to be in agreement.” Most people take this into the absolute realm and interpret consensus to mean, “everyone agrees with everything.”
Bad idea. Executive Coaching tip: people are designed at the molecular level NOT to agree on everything. So why set yourself up for the tyranny of the minority? Read the rest of this entry »
The Better to Innovate You With – Why Leaders Keep Fools Nearby
Posted by Dana Theus in Change Management, Corporate Culture, Innovation on December 14, 2011
In researching my eCourse on Speaking Truth to Power to help people use their own deep wisdom to advance their careers, I stumbled on this great article by James O’Toole (link). O’Toole gave several examples of corporate cultures that encourage people to challenge authority and who excelled because of it. A great example was 1980′s Motorola, led by CEO Robert Galvin. Galvin credited a deliberate culture of challenging ideas held by those in authority as the fuel that helped Motorola overcome Texas Instruments.
It seems pretty clear, from anecdotes like this and research conducted more recently, that a culture that encourages new ideas and open dialog breeds innovation, but human nature seems to work against us here. The research shows that due to “the boss effect” the higher up they go, the less bosses listen and (presumably because more messengers get shot), the more trepidation people have about speaking up.
Corporate cultures are so strong! What’s a leader to do?
Hire a fool.







