By Carol Mase on April 26, 2011
Turbulence describes the business environment over the last 25 years, and there is no sign of it letting up. This means that leaders for the foreseeable future will be surrounded by our old friend VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Turning this into an opportunity to adapt requires that we ask the right questions. [...]
By Steven Ober on October 15, 2010
Leading and Working in Complex Human Systems -For Diane Hetherington- The importance of human systems: We spend much of our lives as part of human systems. Examples include the organizations in which we work, the teams and groups of which we are members, our families, our communities, and our world. In fact, I would argue [...]
By Steve Wolinski on September 16, 2010
The movement of women into senior leadership positions continues to be incredibly slow in the U.S. Among Fortune 500 companies, only 16% of corporate officers, 14% of board directors, 5% of top earners, and just over 1% of CEOs are women. Women in these settings continue to be viewed as having more nurturing, supportive, and communal tendencies, and are evaluated more harshly than men if they demonstrate these qualities, especially in more senior leadership roles.
By Steven Ober on September 10, 2010
The Essence of Story work This post is the last in a series about Creating your Leadership Story—how you can learn to see your original systemic story; how, particularly in high stakes situations, it inserts itself into your present day leadership behavior; and how, if desired, you can change your story. The fundamental [...]
By Steven Ober on July 29, 2010
Three ways to understand yourself in systems Events, Patterns, and, Structure There are three ways to think about yourself and your behavior in complex systems. To increase your effectiveness as a leader, it is useful to understand all three and how they interconnect. You can understand yourself in systems through the [...]
By Steven Ober on July 16, 2010
Premises that Shape Leadership Story Work Stories and Story Work This post is the third in a series about a breakthrough Leadership Coaching approach: Creating your Leadership Story. I have suggested that one of the most powerful ways for leaders to see how you lead, understand the reasons you lead as you do, and [...]
By Steven Ober on July 9, 2010
Key Ideas Underlying Story Work “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” Kurt Lewin In last week’s post, I suggested that one of the most powerful ways to understand yourself as a leader and as a human being, and to align your energy to create the results you want in life, [...]
By Steven Ober on June 29, 2010
“When we know the facts about people, we know what they are. When we know their stories, we know who they are.” John Quincy Adams Leadership, Systems, and Stories One of the most powerful ways to understand your leadership, and the reasons you behave and lead as you do, is to understand your systemic story. [...]
By julia fabris mcbride on May 7, 2010
Reason’s whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence. ~ Alexander Pope Alexander Pope penned those lines of iambic pentameter in the first half of the 1700s. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard them from a stressed-out 21st century nonprofit executive director. Imagine the conversation. [...]
By julia fabris mcbride on May 1, 2010
My leadership development journey began in 1961, when I popped into the world as the first CEO of the Donna and Jim Fabris Family. (I’ll use the organization’s acronym, DAJFF.) Jim and Donna founded DAJFF less than a year earlier. They were 23 years old. Jim says he’d been planning DAJFF since he was about [...]
Carol Mase, President of Cairn Consultants, is an educator and coach-consultant who has worked in global marketing, strategic planning, and large scale organizational change. [Read more ...]
Kristin Keffeler, MSM, of Kinetic Enterprise, is a business development and leadership coach who specializes in supporting entrepreneurs and business leaders to bring their Big Ideas to life.
Dr. Steven Ober is a senior executive coach and consultant. He has worked successfully with executives and managers in high tech, business and industry, health care, government, and education. 