A trusted friend and former colleague of mine at Morgan Stanley recently praised Andy Chan’s work at Wake Forest University to help students understand and develop character, then discover their passion and a career path to match it. Here’s a great article about Chan’s work from the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Finished College. Now What?”

Chan’s work fits well with our mission to develop strength of character and connection in organizations (you can learn why we believe character strengths are so important for individual, organizational and societal health in the Connection Culture Manifesto that was published by changethis.com). I’ll be learning more and writing future blog posts about Andy Chan and Wake Forest’s work so stay tuned.

We learn best when we think, feel and do.  That’s the message of Dr. Adele Diamond, a cognitive developmental neuroscientist who currently teaches at the University of British Columbia in Canada.  We might refer to this as “whole body learning.”  According to Dr. Diamond, the executive function of the brain — the prefrontal cortex — works best when we go beyond the rational mind by also involving emotions and physical behaviors.  That makes sense since the more we involve other parts of the brain, the more neural connections we make that reinforce learning.

The implications are wide-ranging.  It reminds me of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Robert Sternberg’s identification of different thinking styles. The more we incorporate different approaches to learning that speak to diverse individuals who are wired to learn differently, the greater the probability they will in fact learn.

Are you using more than analytic, rational methods of learning?   Do you use stories to move people emotionally?  Do you employ exercises that require people to behave in ways that will help them learn?

For those who want to go deeper, there a fascinating hour-long interview of Dr. Adele Diamond by Krista Tippett of American Public Radio’s “Speaking of Faith” program that you can hear at this link.

Some of you know that in addition to speaking and teaching leadership at business, government and academic organizations, Jason Pankau and I frequently speak in faith communities such as churches. (Speaking of churches, here’s a great example of a Connection Culture in a church.  The example comes from Gary Hamel’s MIX blog and it’s about “Mission Shaped Communities” started in England by a number of innovative clergy including my own pastor Drew Williams who is now senior pastor of Trinity Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.)

To learn more about Connection Cultures in faith communities, watch the following video series of Jason Pankau teaching a workshop on Connection Cultures for Churches.

Session 1 – The Case for Connection
Session 2 – Creating a Connection Culture
Session 3 – Inspiring Identity
Session 4 – Knowledge Flow
Session 5 – Committed Members and Servant Leaders

The US Navy and U2 in the same article! Huh?

That’s right.  It’s true. Check it out for yourself.

The Leader to Leader Institute just posted an article on its website that Jason Pankau and I wrote for the Summer edition of the Leader to Leader Journal. The article features the stories of the US Navy’s former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Vern Clark, and Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2.  The article is about the topic of connecting with “core employees” to boost strategic alignment, employee engagement, productivity and innovation.  Here is a link to the article entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.”

The Leader to Leader Institute was founded by the late Peter Drucker and is headed by Frances Hesselbein, two individuals whom Jason and I respect and admire for their competence, character and positive contributions to society.  The Institute was formed to promote strong leadership in the social sector. Jason and I support the Institute’s work by sharing our work and ideas related to Connection Cultures.  Recently the Institute added Jason and I to its Thought Leaders Gateway and last week I filmed a video interview for the Leader to Leader Institute’s Leadership Dialogues website.  The interview was about the importance of connection to human beings and how many leaders sabotage themselves by not investing time to connect with other human beings.  The interview was conducted by another thought leader whose work we admire, Mark Thompson.

Online MBA Rankings







Forgive me for this self indulgent, celebratory post. Recently, I learned that MichaelLeeStallard.com was recognized as one of the top ten blogs on leadership by an organization that ranks blogs. Earlier this year, our blog received a similar honor from Jurgen Noop.  It was my good fortune to also recently be recognized by HR Examiner as a “Top 25 Online Influencer on Leadership.” (You can learn more about it at this link as well as in a podcast about the online influencer list with Peter Clayton of Total Picture Radio.)  To top it off, MichaelLeeStallard.com was just added  to Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop.com Leadership Blogs List.   (I would do a dance over all this good news but my teenage daughters would laugh up-roariously at the ridiculous sight of their father dancing.)

This weekend, my wife Katie and I went for a rare getaway to Boston, about a three hour drive from our home in Connecticut.   Our primary interest was to see the home of the Adams family, not of the television sitcom fame, however. We were interested in seeing the other Adams family, John and Abigail Adams, and their son John Quincy Adams.  Katie and I much admire the Adams’s for their character, their faith and the positive impact they had America.

As it turned out, Sunday was the birthday of John Quincy Adams.  When we visited the tombs of the Adams’s we saw a wreath on John Quincy Adam’s tomb sent from President Obama.

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the Mendi Bible that was given by the Mendi men to John Quincy Adams in thanks for representing them in their successful case to win their freedom, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Mendi Bible is kept in a safe except on the weekend of John Quincy Adams’s birthday when it is on display in the Adams’s library adjacent to their home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The tour guide let me read a copy of the letter the Mendi Men presented to John Quincy Adams at the time they gave him the Bible. The letter expressed their gratitude to President Adams, how much the Bible meant to them during their time in prison and how they continue reading it now that they are free. President Adams wrote back to the Mendi that “it was from that book that I learnt to espouse your cause when you were in trouble.”

The story of the Mendi men was captured in Stephen Spielberg’s highly acclaimed movie “Amistad,” which I encourage you to see.   In 2007, Deval Patrick, Massachusett’s first African-American governor, was sworn in using the Mendi Bible (you can read about it in this Boston Globe article.)

Near the church where the Adams’s are entombed, there is a statue of young John Quincy at around nine years old holding the hand of his mother Abigail.  She was a remarkable woman of faith, wisdom and courage.  Knowing the stories of John and Abigail Adams it should come as no surprise that their son went on to become America’s sixth president and later a defender of liberty and justice in the case of the Mendi’s.  As historian David McCullough wrote,

“While there are indeed great, often unfathomable forces in history before which even the most exceptional of individuals seem insignificant, the wonder is how often events turn upon a single personality, or the quality we call character.”

The Adams’ family was a tremendous example of strength of character in action.  I was encouraged learning more about them.

Learning about and celebrating the stories of individuals who have good character is one way we can be encouraged to live up to their example. By developing habits that reflect strength of character in our lives and teaching the stories of role models such as the Adams’s to our children we help them develop good character too.

On July 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm EDT, Michael and Jason Pankau will join the Best Practice Institute to present a 45 minute webinar on creating a work environment to maximize employee engagement and strategic alignment.   Following the webinar there will be a 15 minute period for Q&A.

During the session, Michael and Jason will cover:

• Six universal human needs to thrive at work
• Three core elements of a culture that motivates employees to give their all
• Best practices of leaders who energize the people they lead
• Why task and relationship excellence are necessary to achieve sustainable superior performance.

You can register for the webinar at this link.

Jason Pankau and I were recently guests on LeaderLab’s podcast interviews available online or at iTunes. LeaderLab’s podcasts are hosted by David Burkus. David’s past guests on LeaderLab’s podcasts have included Marshall Goldsmith, Daniel Pink and Steve Farber. Check it out.

Every month I participate in a leadership carnival with several bloggers whose work I respect. Each blogger selects one of their best blog posts over the course of the  prior month and submits it for inclusion in the carnival.   Below are links to the blog posts for the July leadership carnival.

Over at The People Equation, Jennifer V. Miller advocates for “management by asking” in her post “Socrates Was On to Something.”

Wally Bock presents Once Upon a Time posted at Three Star Leadership Blog. “ Lots of things have changed since I started in business. But the most important thing has stayed the same.”

Learn how to get the most out of blogs, books, seminars and other resources, whether the subject is management, leadership or any other self-improvement effort, the process for using the information is the same. Miki Saxon presents How to Improve Your Management Skill at MAPping Company Success.

Managers can’t let fear rule their decision making – Sharlyn Lauby presents Handling Workplace Retaliation posted at HR Bartender.

Mary Jo Asmus presents 7 Ways to Enjoy Others at Work posted at Aspire-CS.

Jane Perdue presents A Lobby Display of True Leader Colors posted at Get Your Leadership BIG On!.

If you want to really understand your culture, take time to understand the underlying rules: spoken and unspoken. Steve Roesler presents Want to Influence? Know the Norms posted at All Things Workplace.

Mark Stelzner presents SHRM 2010: Observations & Conclusions posted at Inflexion Point.

Alice Snell presents Public Sector Hiring Reform posted at Taleo Blog – Talent Management Solutions.

Art Petty presents Leadership Caffeine: Prepare Your Mind to Conquer Presentation Anxiety posted at Management Excellence.

Kevin W. Grossman presents Valuing meaningful work always plays better to the bottom line. posted at HRmarketer.com Blog.

Nothing is more inspiring than a noble purpose. Do you see your work as a “job” or a mission? You will be surprised how easy it is to make your purpose special. Mike Henry Sr. presents Inspiring Purpose posted at Lead Change Group.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has built an amazing culture. Most of us can learn a lot from what he did and how he did it. But there is one lesson we should NOT learn from Zappos. Anne Perschel presents What NOT to Learn from Zappos posted at Germane Insights.

Leaders make many decisions each day. What factors do you consider when making decisions? Becky Robinson presents Factors in Decision Makingposted at Mountain State University LeaderTalk.

7 useful tips to take leadership repertoire to the next level: Utpal Vaishnav presents How To Caffeinate Your Leadership Repertoire? posted at Utpal Writes.

A fun post – a poem that links how we work with what we are seeing in the World Cup Football matches. David Zinger presents Working Zingers: Work as the World Cup posted at David Zinger Employee Engagement.

There is always friction between a unit and its higher headquarters, no matter the organization. In “Those Idiots Up At HQ,” Leader Business examines the firing of General McChrystal from a personal perspective. Tom Magness presents Those Idiots Up At HQ posted at Leader Business.

NY Times best selling author, Chuck Martin, shares his Management Tip, Play to your strengths, in this ten minute podcast. Nick McCormick presentsPlay to People?s Strengths posted at Joe and Wanda on Management.

With leadership development being defined and implemented differently from business to business, it is often difficult to find or create measurement around LDP programs. In this post I describe 7 approached to measure the leadership programs you create. Benjamin McCall presentsMetrics of Leadership: 7 measurements for Leadership Development, at REThink HR.

This post links together England’s demise in the World Cup, Boris Groysberg’s new book on talent and performance, and whether what applies (may apply) in football / soccer applies in business too. Jon Ingham presents Chasing Stars and Socialism at Social Advantage.

Highlights an eye-opening study which finds that Talent Management systems are gender-biased and talk about what to do about it. Meg Bear presents Are your leadership competencies gender biased? posted at TalentedApps.

The ultimate motivations comes from knowing who we are and courageously acting upon that knowledge. What will you do in your “moment of truth”? Janna Rust presents Purposeful Leadership: Your Moment of Truth: What Will You Choose? posted at Purposeful Leadership.

Laura Schroeder presents Is Attrition a Key Component of Retention? posted at Working Girl.

Anna Farmery presents The Life Cycle of Thinking posted at The Engaging Brand.

Many managers don’t trust that their systems hire and keep people that will make good decisions. They “solve” this problem by giving staff no authority, which isn’t a solution. John Hunter presents Trust Your Staff to Make Decisions posted at Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog.

Research from i4cp/AMA reveal four key practices all companies should follow when developing global leaders. Erik Samdahl presents Four Key Practices for Developing Global Leaders posted at Productivity Blog.

My blog post for this month’s carnival is The Need to Respect Legitimate Authority and One’s Colleagues posted at Michael Lee Stallard.

Nissim Ziv presents Problem Solving Interview posted at Job Interview & Career Guide.

There are lessons we can all learn from General Stanley McChrystal’s recent resignation. Sometimes choosing our words wisely is more important than sharing opinions. Kathy C presents Lessons Learned from General Stanley McChrystal posted at The Thriving Small Business.

Wise Bread presents Freedom From the Day Job posted at Wisebread.

This post speaks of reducing the clutter in Leadership and Learning & keeping things simple. Dominic Rajesh presents Clutter-free Learning and Leadership posted at Dom’s Blog ….

Bob Lieberman presents Gas! posted at Cultivating Creativity – Leadership Development for the Creative Economy.

Eliminating negative has a greater impact than accentuated positive. The challenge is to eliminate the negative in a way that does not create more negative. Michael Cardus presents Eliminating Negative to Increase Positive posted at Create-Learning Team Building & Leadership Blog.

Friso presents An introduction to Corporate Performance Management | Everyone can manage posted at Everyone can Manage.

This post talks about how to manage others successfully in a nonprofit setting. But it can be applied to any business. Mazarine presents Wild Woman Fundraising Advanced Fundraising: Managing Others posted at Wild Woman Fundraising.

Bauhinia Solutions presents The Benefits of Coaching posted at Bauhinia Solutions.

Many thanks to Dan McCarthy over at Great Leadership for hosting this month’s carnival.

One reason so many leaders fail is that they become isolated.  We all need good friends who “have our back,” as my friend and business colleague Jason Pankau likes to say.  Good friends tell us the truth, they are willing to speak up if they believe we are wrong, and they support and encourage us through the inevitable difficult seasons we all experience in life.

A couple summers ago, I shot the above photograph of the William Seward statue in New York City’s Madison Square Park knowing that one day I would write about him. Seward was a onetime political rival of Abraham Lincoln’s who became a member of Lincoln’s cabinet and one of Lincoln’s best friends.  Doris Kearns-Goodwin wrote about their friendship in her wonderful book Team of Rivals. Frequently, Lincoln went to Steward’s residence in Washington D.C. where the two men talked for hours. Seward’s friendship was a lifeline for Lincoln during his struggles with depression, challenging periods he faced during the Civil War, his wife’s mental illness and the grief he felt following the death of his son.

Ask yourself if you have a few good friends who have your back at work and in life outside of work.  If you do, why not reach out to them and let them know how much you appreciate their friendship.  If you don’t have close friends, take out pen and paper then write down the names of individuals who have the potential to become good friends. Consider the following questions when selecting potential good friends:  Is he trustworthy?; Does he share your interests and values?; Does he live near you so that you can meet on a regular basis? Now that you have a few names, prioritize them then reach out to see if they are willing to meet you over a meal or coffee.  If the meeting goes well, ask if he would consider meeting on a regular basis. In my next post, I’ll write about the types of interactions that will make your meeting time with good friends worthwhile for each of you.

I’m dedicating this post to one of my best friends, Jason Pankau.  Here is a picture of us when we spoke recently at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (Jason is on the right side of the picture). We are standing in front of the Mission Control center for the International Space Station.