Leadership and Trust: A Refresher

There is probably nothing as important to the effective functioning of people and organizations as a high degree of trust.  Therefore it’s a good idea to take another look at trust from time-to-time as a refresher.  The WSJournal recently had a thoughtful article worth reading for such a refresher.

Please note the author’s failure to discuss your trust baseline when beginning to work with people:  To trust, or to not trust and wait for evidence to trust.  This is often an issue for thoughtful people.  My opinion is most people are trustworthy, so it is a good baseline to trust from the beginning as you collect evidence.  However, you must be aware of the possible consequences of not trusting and not fall into the trap of Pollyannaish naiveté.

The Journal article is a good read at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204138204576603031565507232.html

Office Politics: Who you know or …..

The answer to the perennial question in the world of work: What’s more important, What you know or who you know” is YES.

An article from the WSJ reframes  “office politics” in a way that makes them more understandable, and less frightening and intractable.  Here is the definition of healthy “office politics:”

Building relationships and networks

Not picking fights over trivial issues

Informing others about your accomplishments

Asking for advice and help

These are ethical “can dos” that help you to understand and master organizational dynamics.  For a more in-depth discussion go to:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576570574190457198.html

There are a couple of ways that people can subscribe to this blog. Click the “+ Follow” link on the bottom right section of the site and enter your email address. This is a very easy way to receive the newest post as an email. The other way is via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. The RSS Feed link is located on the right sidebar of the site, directly above the Categories section. Click on “RSS – Posts” to receive your posts in their favorite RSS reader. The RSS reader that many prefer is Google Reader (http://reader.google.com). It is free, well organized, and easy to use.

Essential For Leadership

Here are some key ideas essential to anyone seeking to develop into a leader.  The first is we are living in an information economy where work has migrated from muscle to mind:

http://www.corridorbusiness.com/consulting/on-managing-knowledge-workers/

Second, the American economy and thus the universe of organizations comes in three flavors:

Private for-profit exists to “create wealth”

Public exists to “protect and serve”

Private not-for-profit exists to “do good”

http://www.corridorbusiness.com/consulting/organizations-that-exist-to-do-good/

http://www.corridorbusiness.com/consulting/mars-and-venus-private-and-public-sectors/